Editorials
Monday, October 18, 1999Dock strike could be
a crippling blowJUST when Hawaii's weak economy showed signs of revival, a labor dispute on the docks threatens to stifle the recovery. The ILWU's contract with the shipping companies was scheduled to expire at 6 p.m. tonight following the required 72-hour notice.The issue: The ILWU has canceled its contract with the shipping companies and scheduled strike authorization votes here.
ILWU members on Kauai have voted to authorize the union to call a strike, and similar votes are scheduled on the other islands through the week.
Strike authorization votes do not necessarily mean that a strike will be called, but they certainly make a stoppage more likely. They give the union a powerful bargaining weapon.
A dock strike, if it lasted for more than a few days, could be a crippling blow to the state economy. About 90 percent of all goods coming into the state are transported by ship. Every sector of the economy would be affected by shortages and higher prices.
Kamaainas remember the devastating 1949 dock strike and the less-damaging 1971 walkout. Fortunately disputes on the docks in recent years have been resolved without labor stoppages.
The ILWU gave notice of the termination of its contract Friday night after federal Judge David Ezra ordered the union to end a slowdown that clogged the waterfront throughout last week, noting that the contract banned walkouts or slowdowns.
Governor Cayetano, who has been working throughout his years in office to spark an economic revival, expressed concern about the possibility of a strike and urged the parties to come to an agreement. Clearly the need is for renewed negotiations that would avert a walkout.
Hillary’s maneuvers
IT'S fascinating to watch Hillary Clinton try to dissociate herself from her husband the president as she pursues a U.S. Senate seat. Mrs. Clinton's latest gambit is criticizing federal decisions that cost New York hospitals billions of dollars in federal Medicare payments.
The cuts were part of the 1996 Balanced Budget Act, which President Clinton endorsed. But Mrs. Clinton told health-care administrators that the cuts went too far.
Hospital officials estimate the cuts will cost New York institutions more than $4.7 billion over five years.
Mrs. Clinton didn't specify what should be done to reverse the cuts, saying vaguely the administration "should take whatever steps it is allowed to take." But she made it clear she was on New York's side and not Washington's.
Previously she disagreed with her husband's decision to pardon Puerto Rican nationalists who had been imprisoned in connection with a series of bombings in the 1970s. And she supported New York dairy farmers in a dispute with administration farm policies.
All this from a woman who was the other part of the deal when her husband said Americans would get "two for the price of one" by electing him. Now she is trying to demonstrate her independence.
Similarly Al Gore is trying to put some space between himself and Clinton, after seven years of slavish support as vice president.
Although he survived impeachment, Clinton is damaged goods. Even his wife seems to acknowledge that as she seeks to persuade New Yorkers that she would fight for their interests against the federal monolith headed by her husband.
Hitler’s bunker
ADOLF Hitler boasted that he had founded a Third Reich that would last for a thousand years. He succeeded only in laying waste to much of Europe and in killing millions of people.
Now the underground bunker in Berlin where Hitler spent his last days has been dug up, exposing the site for a last time before it is paved over again with a new road.
Hitler killed himself in the bunker on April 30, 1945, with advancing Soviet troops just a block away. For decades the bunker was buried beneath the Berlin Wall's no-man's land.
When the end came, Hitler and his mistress, Eva Braun, whom he had married days earlier, killed themselves -- Hitler with a shot through the mouth and Braun with poison.
Aides dumped the bodies in a hole blasted open by a shell, and partially incinerated them along with 14 other corpses. The shallow grave was hit repeatedly by Red Army shells. Soviet soldiers dug up the remains. In 1993, Russia claimed to hold parts of Hitler's skull in a state archive, but experts have disputed their authenticity.
Workers dug into the roof while trying to ensure that no unexploded bombs remained in the area. Little can be seen of the bunker except for rusted metal rods protruding from a patch of concrete.
City officials said they saw no reason to preserve the "Fuehrer-bunker" and plan to dig no deeper. In 1994 the city decided it would not preserve the site.
There is enough interest in the bunker to justify preserving it, but the Berliners can be forgiven for wanting to forget about it. Officials fear it could become a mecca for neo-Nazis. The best way to preserve Hitler's legacy of horror is to maintain the concentration camps.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited PartnershipRupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
