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3 in 5 say
unions too
influential

Even some who support
unions say they sway state
government too much

By Rob Perez
Star-Bulletin

Fred Cadiz has seen both sides. He's been a union member and a manager.

And although he says unions serve a useful purpose, he believes Hawaii's public-sector labor organizations hold too much sway over state government.

"It's not a perfect world we live in," said Cadiz, 50, a Pearl City resident who works in the private sector. "The way unions operate, they can help people. But at the same time they can abuse the power they have."

Like Cadiz, three in five Hawaii residents believe unions have too much influence on the way state government operates in Hawaii, according to a Honolulu Star-Bulletin/NBC Hawaii News8 poll.

Given the poll's 5 percent margin of error, the findings differ little from when the same question was asked a year ago in a similar Star-Bulletin/News8 poll. In the 1999 poll, 66 percent felt the unions were too influential, compared with 60 percent today. In March 1998, 57 percent responded that way.

The latest telephone survey of 426 registered voters was taken just a few days after the state Legislature ended its session May 2. During the session, public- and private-sector unions conducted a high-profile campaign to successfully defeat nearly all the major civil-service reforms pushed by Gov. Ben Cayetano.

Such results illustrate the significant clout unions still have in state government, Cadiz and other poll respondents said.

More effective at lobbying

Lei Medeiros said unions tend to get their way because of their ability to lobby for a cause or candidate. The general population isn't as good at lobbying as the unions, often resulting in legislation that is supported by labor but not by the majority of residents, she said.

"It's an imbalance. The net impact is that (legislation) goes the way generally people don't like," said Medeiros, 35, whose husband belongs to a federal union.

Randy Perreira, deputy executive director of the Hawaii Government Employees Association, the state's largest public labor union, said the poll numbers suggest that a certain segment of the population doesn't believe in unions.

But beyond that segment, the rest of the residents believe workers are entitled to certain rights, he said. "People may dislike unions. But people still have a fundamental belief in worker rights."

One reason many of Cayetano's reforms didn't pass was because legislators and others realized the proposals would take away worker rights, Perreira said.

Another reason, the HGEA executive said, was that the unions did an effective job of lobbying on behalf of their members.

According to the poll, 14 percent of the respondents believe unions have too little influence in state government. In 1999, only 9 percent thought that way.

Interestingly, more than half the respondents whose households included a union member said the public unions had too much influence on state government.

Caucasians and Japanese tended to feel that way more so than Hawaiians, Filipinos and other ethnic groups, according to the poll results.

Influential, but not admired

When asked who had more influence at the Legislature, Cayetano or Gary Rodrigues, one of the most influential labor leaders in the state, 55 percent picked Cayetano, compared with 22 percent for Rodrigues.

When asked whether they had a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Rodrigues, 7 percent said favorable, 26 percent said unfavorable and 25 percent had a neutral opinion. The largest group, 42 percent, didn't recognize Rodrigues' name.

Cayetano, by comparison, scored a 35 percent favorable rating. His unfavorable number, 26 percent, was identical to Rodrigues'.

Efforts to reach Rodrigues, head of the United Public Workers, for comment were unsuccessful. When the Star-Bulletin called the UPW office twice last week asking to speak to Rodrigues, a woman answering the phone hung up both times without responding.

"Whatever people may think about Gary Rodrigues, I think he should be given this credit: Gary Rodrigues for his union and for what they stand for is a very, very capable and I would say outstanding labor leader," Cayetano said.

"The fact that his actions may be looked upon not favorably by the rest of the public is probably immaterial to him because he represents the union members."

Brad Coker of Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc., the Washington, D.C., company that conducted the poll, said it's not unusual for a labor leader to have a higher unfavorable rating than a favorable one.

"When you're an advocate for a cause, you're not playing to a greater audience," Coker said. "That's not his job to be popular with the public."