Layoffs hitting
isles hard

Many local residents are having to
cope with absent or reduced
paychecks in a slow market

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By Treena Shapiro
tshapiro@starbulletin.com

FAITH DANIELS-TAFISI was called in to work Wednesday only to learn that the job she had held for 15 years at Pleasant Travel Service was gone.

She was among the thousands of Hawaii residents who have been laid off or temporarily furloughed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Many of those workers are in the tourism industry, and many live paycheck to paycheck, so even a short period of lost wages could snowball into long-term financial distress.

Daniels-Tafisi's paycheck covered the family's car payments and $449 monthly rent at Kamehameha Housing, while her husband's part-time job at Aloha Stadium pays for utilities and food.

"Financially it will affect us big time because I was the major source of our income," Daniels-Tafisi said.

The family has no savings, no one to ask for help and no credit to fall back on, she said.

Of the state's roughly 519,800 workers in August, 5,607 people filed unemployment insurance claims between Sept. 10 and 22, compared with 2,400 in the same period last year. Another 3,845 people filed claims through Thursday, according to preliminary figures from the state Unemployment Insurance Division.

As she waited to file a claim at the state unemployment office Friday, Daniels-Tafisi, 40, said she hoped that unemployment insurance would provide enough for the family to get by while she looks for a job.

She added that their assets, such as a car, prevent them from qualifying for welfare.

"With two girls, it's hard because they need to eat," she said, referring to 1-year-old Kiana and 3-year-old Kodi. "They're still young yet, at the age where they don't understand."

Maintenance engineer Wendell Ignacio, 44, fears that he may lose his house while temporarily furloughed from the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort. The unemployment benefits he qualifies for fall far short of his $3,200 monthly mortgage.

"My house was already in foreclosure, and now this happens," he said.

Although he is not required to look for a job to receive unemployment benefits, Ignacio said he has no choice. But he does not hold out much hope until the tourism industry rebounds.

"There's a lot of uncertainty, a lot of anger," he said.

Pat Sato, 45, said she and her boyfriend have both lost hours because of the tourism slump that has seen daily visitor arrivals fall more than 30 percent.

The department where Sato worked as a waitress at the Hyatt Regency was shut down, and she has been put on call. Her boyfriend still holds a job tending bar at Scruples Beach Club, but his hours were cut.

Sato said they have enough set aside to pay their mortgage for about three months. "We have savings, thank God, and my mom," she said.

She said she is optimistic that tourism will turn around before their savings run out.

Russell Baltazar, 22, hopes that he will not have to turn to his family for help after being put on call as a dishwasher at the Shore Bird restaurant in Waikiki. He relied on his paycheck for rent, telephone service and a bus pass. Since losing his full-time hours, he terminated his cable.

"I might have to borrow a little bit of money," he said. He also plans to look for another job unless he gets stable hours at his former job.

In addition to applying for unemployment, Baltazar applied for food stamps and medical insurance, which the state will provide for three months.

After that, he said, "I'm scared that I would have to move back in with my mom."

Desiree Reff had already been looking for a second job before Sept. 11 because one of the companies she had been working for went bankrupt. On Thursday she learned that she would lose her other job as a supervisor at Alii Kai Catamaran.

As she filled out her unemployment claim that day, she said she was still trying to figure out what she was going to do.

Like the Daniels-Tafisi family, she had no savings to fall back on. Her rent is $355 a month, and she contributes $198 a month toward her hospitalized mother's funeral expenses.

"I really don't want to apply for welfare or anything like that," Reff said. "Still yet, that's not enough to pay rent."

With no job prospects, Reff said she is trying to stay away from her old profession, dealing drugs, for which she has already served prison time. "I don't want to go back to that life."

Daniels-Tafisi said that she was going to spend the next couple of weeks taking advantage of the only positive thing her job loss has given her: more time for her children.

"I'm going to spend time at home and try to take care of them," she said. "They don't know (what's going on)," she said. "They just think Mommy's home."

She said she is optimistic her situation will turn around. "I'm not worried," she said. "I believe that when I do find another job, it will be better and more paying."

Layoff trend

Hawaii companies that have laid off workers since Sept. 11:

Aloha Airlines, ABC Stores, Continental Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, United Airlines, Ilima Tours, Queen Kapiolani Hotel, DFS, Marriott Ihilani Resort, Sato Travel and Atlantis Submarines.