Hawaiian Cement,
union still at oddsBoth parties will meet today. after
last night's six-hour talks broke off
Talks between Hawaiian Cement and the union for the company's 67 picketing workers broke off without a new contract last night, but both parties agreed to meet again this afternoon.
"A good agreement is better than a fast agreement," said Hawaiian Cement Vice President Michael Coad after emerging from the six-hour negotiations. "We heard some things from the union side that we haven't heard previously."
Hawaiian Cement workers marked their sixth day walking picket lines this morning.
Teamsters Local 996 attorney Sean Kim said last night that it's "too early" to tell whether there was movement during last night's negotiations. The union represents all of the picketing concrete workers.
"We've exchanged some ideas across the table," Kim said. "We're still talking."
Talks will resume today at Teamsters headquarters in Kalihi.
Meanwhile, no new contract negotiations are planned between the union and Ameron Hawaii, where some 144 concrete workers have been on strike for the past week.
Before yesterday's talks, Coad said that "to settle any disagreement, both sides need to make some movement."
Both the union and Hawaiian Cement have accused each other of being unwilling to make compromises. At one point during talks last week, Teamsters President Mel Kahele said Hawaiian Cement officials had "dug their heels in the sand" and refused several proposals set forth by the union.
Contract sticking points for both companies center on medical and sick leave benefits. Coad and Kim declined last night to discuss the specifics of their newest contract proposals.
But Coad said federal mediator Ken Kawamoto asked both parties yesterday to check with their insurance provider and accounting officials on whether certain proposals were possible.
The strikes, which threaten to slow the state's multibillion-dollar construction industry, have already halted commercial and residential construction projects islandwide. The island's four nonunion concrete companies are struggling to meet demand from customers left without concrete.
Hawaiian Cement and Ameron are the state's largest concrete suppliers.
Ron Taketa, financial secretary and business representative with the Hawaii Carpenters Union, said yesterday that as many as 1,000 carpenters could be laid off if strikes drag on for another week.
"Our contractors have been doing everything possible to keep our carpenters employed," Taketa said. "(But) there's only so far the contractors can go."
He said more than 75 of his union's carpenters have already been laid off because of the concrete strikes, and more will follow if the work stoppages continue. Within the next two weeks, 600 to 700 carpenters working on residential properties in the Ewa Plains and about 300 carpenters employed at the Wal-Mart project near Ala Moana Center could be laid off because of the strikes, he said.
"Just when we see the light at the end of the tunnel," Taketa said, alluding to the recently ended recession in the construction industry, "and all of a sudden there's no concrete."
A number of contractors have called Hawaiian Cement and Ameron to inquire when the companies expect a resolution, according to officials with both firms.
Taketa said "these disputes are best left" to the parties involved. He added that it wasn't his place to contact the companies or the Teamsters to pressure them to end the strikes.
"It's not a situation that we like," he said. "We're just hoping for the earliest resolution possible."
