Union leaders respected
management’s negotiator

Dwight C. Steele / Labor representative

SEE ALSO: OBITUARIES

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By Craig Gima
cgima@starbulletin.com

As president of the Hawaii Employers Council from 1946 until 1959, Dwight C. Steele represented the interests of Big 5 companies, sugar and pineapple plantations and about 200 other Hawaii businesses in negotiations during a time when organized labor was on the rise.

"He was very involved in all the labor negotiations when the unions were just getting started in the islands," said Alberta Steele, his wife of 62 years.

"He had a pretty good relationship with all of the union people -- Harry Bridges, Jack Hall -- even though he represented the management," said daughter Diane Smith.

Steele died July 11 from injuries suffered in a fall while gardening in his second home at Lake Tahoe, Calif., Smith said. He was 88.

Not long after he arrived in Hawaii, sugar workers at all of Hawaii's plantations went on strike in August of 1946. The strike lasted 79 days and was a turning point in labor history here.

Steele was also the chief negotiator in the 1949 International Longshore and Warehouse Union strike, which lasted six months.

But his relationship with union leaders was such that he was called to San Francisco to help negotiate an end to a three-month-long 1948 West Coast dock strike.

Smith remembers the union leaders would occasionally come to their house for a drink or dinner.

"He was a very outstanding negotiator," said Alberta Steele. "He knew these men very well. They worked together very well, I think."

Alberta Steele said that when ILWU leader Harry Bridges was dying in San Francisco, Bridge's wife called to ask Steele to come over because the labor leader wanted to see him one last time.

After leaving Hawaii, Steele moved back to his native San Francisco Bay area and opened up a labor law practice.

He left his successful practice and became active in the conservation movement and campaigns to protect San Francisco Bay and Lake Tahoe.

He was appointed to the War Labor Board and War Manpower Commission during World War II and the National Wage Stabilization board during the Korean War.

Steele also is survived by another daughter, Marilyn Steele; brother Roger; seven grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.

Services are planned for 3 p.m. Aug. 11 at the Del Valle Clubhouse at Roosmoor in Walnut Creek, Calif., and on Aug. 25 at Granlibakken Resort in Tahoe City, Calif.

The family suggests donations in his memory to the League to Save Lake Tahoe, Citizens for an Eastshore State Park, Save the Bay, the Tahoe-Baikal Institute or a charity of the donor's choice.