Ameron employees
narrowly OK dealThe contract includes
a $4.20-an-hour wage
hike over five years
Workers at Oahu's largest concrete provider ended a 57-day strike yesterday, narrowly approving a contract that will increase their contribution for medical benefits, but also promises a wage increase of $4.20 per hour over five years.
Teamsters Local 996 President Mel Kahele declined to give yesterday's vote split, saying only that 136 of the 144 unionized Ameron Hawaii workers participated in the secret ballot.
But several workers said that 61 union members -- or 45 percent of Ameron's union membership -- voted against ratifying the contract.
One man, who asked not to be named, said those who voted against the contract were upset about increased medical copayments -- the biggest obstacle to an agreement throughout negotiations with Ameron.
Talks between the Teamsters and Hawaiian Cement, Oahu's second-largest concrete supplier, also centered on health benefits. The company's 67 concrete workers returned to work March 20 after a 42-day strike.
Kahele wouldn't comment on whether yesterday's vote was a close one. He did say, though, that the company's offer "could have been better."
"Not all of us are pleased with the offer," Kahele said. "But it was a heck of a lot better then what they had a week ago."
There will be no increase in medical premium copayments for the first two years of the agreement. In the third year, medical copay will increase from 20 to 25 percent, then to 30 percent in the fourth and fifth years.
The contract also gives workers a $4.20-an-hour wage increase package, with a $1 raise for the first two years, an 80-cent wage increase the third year and a 70-cent wage increase in each of the last two years.
Ameron's concrete workers currently make an average of $25.54 an hour.
About 25 of Ameron's 48 mixer-truck drivers are set to begin work tomorrow. Some quarry workers are scheduled to start today.
Ameron Vice President George West said his whole crew won't return until the company's quarry production returns to capacity. For the next two weeks, output will be at about 60 percent to 70 percent as equipment is inspected and raw materials for making concrete are produced.
West said yesterday that he wasn't surprised the company's latest proposal was approved by a narrow margin.
"I expected a close vote," he said. "We were confident that we would get ratification, but we knew that it would be very close."
Ameron Hawaii workers mulled over the offer for about an hour yesterday before voting began about 1 p.m.
After the ballot's results were read to the membership, a number of union members streamed out of their union's hall cursing loudly and shouting, "Losers." Most declined to be interviewed.
"I think we could have got a better package," said one union member, who was drinking beer with friends after the vote across the street from Teamsters headquarters. "They scrape it from the bottom of the barrel. ... Next time, they're going to take more."
Ameron worker William Leslie, talking nearby with colleagues, said the threat of the company hiring replacement workers moved many union members to approve the new contract.
"I think they (the company) could have offered more than they offered," he said. "It was a close vote."
The ratification yesterday ended the second of two concrete strikes that crippled the island's construction industry for weeks and cost hundreds their jobs. Developers are predicting that the effects of the strikes will be felt into next year.
"We basically lost two months, two good months worth of production, and that's one-sixth of a year," said Kenneth Choate, executive vice president of HASEKO Construction, Inc.
Ocean Pointe, the developer's planned community in Ewa, is one of Ameron's first pours scheduled for the company's returning workers. Some 140 cubic yards -- 14 mixer trucks' worth -- of concrete will poured at the construction site tomorrow at 7 a.m.
At the same time, 70 cubic yards will be dumped at the Wal-Mart and Sam's Club complex on Keeaumoku Avenue.
Choate estimates he's behind on the construction of 20 to 25 homes at Ocean Pointe. His associates are discussing whether trying to catch up, by increasing workers' hours and ordering more-than-usual concrete, is financially prudent or futile.
"When somebody shuts you down for two months, it always cost more," he said. "They affected everybody."
Eric Perez, project manager of the Wal-Mart site, said he's "aggressively scheduled" concrete pours for the upcoming weeks. The strikes have held up the completion of the store's parking structure and sidewalks.
"We will finish on time," he said. But, "we can't lose any more time."
A project manager for one of Ameron's largest jobs -- the University of Hawaii medical school in Kakaako -- said he's anxious to get back to prestrike work schedules.
Eric Hashizumi, of Hawaiian Dredging, said the school's original completion date was July 2005.
"The (strikes') impact will affect that date," he said, adding that Ameron will make a pour at the site later this week. "We probably won't know (by how much) until we get back on track."