ANTHONY SOMMER / TSOMMER@STARBULLETIN.COM
A tentative agreement was reached last night between Guava Kai Plantation and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, ending a strike by 28 field hands that began Thursday. ILWU workers picketed yesterday.
Striking guava pickers
reach tentative agreement
KILAUEA, Kauai >> Negotiators for Guava Kai Plantation and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union reached a tentative agreement last night, ending a strike by 28 field hands that began Thursday.
Mike Machado, business manager, said the proposed contract includes wage increases for both regular employees and part-time or seasonal employees.
Under the new contract, expected to be ratified today or tomorrow, regular employees would get a 3 percent wage increase on June 1, while seasonal employees would get an immediate 3 percent wage increase and an additional 3 percent wage increase on June 1.
The field hands have been working without a contract since Jan. 2, but waited until the crop required harvesting to press their demands. If they approve the new contract, they could be back at work by Monday, Machado said.
The regular employees, who make $9.02 per hour must work a minimum of 1,500 hours a year to be eligible for benefits the following year. Machado said the workers want that language removed because the company controls the hours and keeps employees below the minimum to deprive them of benefits in the next year.
The seasonal workers are paid $7.14 an hour and the only paid holiday they receive is Thanksgiving, Machado said.
The first day of the strike was marred by minor injuries to three strikers blocking the road to the plantation. They were struck by a car driven by a non-union company employee "who became impatient" when pickets refused to let the car pass, according to Kauai police. The vehicle was moving very slowly and the injuries were slight. A Kauai police officer was stationed with the pickets yesterday.
The Guava Kai crop was ripe and unpicked fruit was beginning to fall on the ground, union officials said.
The Guava Kai Plantation was started by C. Brewer, which once controlled the vast majority of sugar and pineapple fields in the Kilauea area. It is now run by a holding company that also owns a juice plant on the mainland.
The plantation also is a tourist attraction and tours are provided daily.
Plantation managers did not return call seeking comment yesterday.
