Kauai sugar workers
take 10% pay cut

By Trish Moore
Kauai correspondent

LIHUE - Kauai sugar workers for Amfac/JMB-Hawaii Inc. have accepted by a narrow margin a two-year contract that includes a 10 percent pay cut and other concessions.

The Kekaha & Lihue plantation workers yesterday ratified the contract 174 to 168 after overwhelmingly rejecting two previous contract offers.

"It was a very tough negotiation," said Clayton Dela Cruz, Kauai division head of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.

Amfac/JMB President Gary Grottke said the concessions are enough to keep the plantation going in the short term, but the contract "certainly isn't the global restructuring we were hoping for. I don't think it provides the solutions we need to survive over the long haul."

The firm's Kauai plantations have lost money most of the last 10 years, he said.

Workers, who make an average of $10.71 an hour, starting today will take a 10 percent cut in pay. The rest of the contract terms are retroactive to Feb. 1.

Workers will be paid overtime after 12 hours in one day, but also after 40 hours in one week. Workers will waive 5 days of vacation each year. Medical, dental and vision insurance remain unchanged from the last contract.

The new contract also includes a small increase in the minimum pension benefit, Grottke said.

The contract doesn't include any job cuts, but the company is still likely to have to furlough workers to make a profit, he said.

The agreement doesn't affect the company's 250 employees at Pioneer Mill on Maui.

The union and management will begin negotiations on a new contract today.