FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaiian Cement talks resumed yesterday at Hawaii Teamsters headquarters in Kalihi. Among those present were Teamsters attorneys Michael Chambrella, left, and Sean Kim.
Concrete talks
begin again
after 10 daysNegotiations press into the night
with few hints about progress
For the first time in 10 days, Hawaiian Cement and striking Teamsters returned to the bargaining table yesterday.
The negotiations, which began about 5 p.m. with a federal mediator, continued into the night with little indication of whether progress was being made. The two sides last met Feb. 13, but talks broke off with both sides reporting little progress.
For nearly three weeks, 67 Hawaiian Cement workers and 144 Ameron Hawaii workers have been walking the picket lines, stifling Oahu's booming construction industry. Ameron Hawaii workers went on strike Feb. 6, and Hawaiian Cement workers followed the next day.
The strike has prompted dozens of layoffs at construction companies that cannot work until the concrete starts to pour again.
State officials said yesterday that the five weeks prior to the strikes averaged 850 unemployment claims filed a week. Since then the number has increased nearly 12 percent to 951 claims a week.
Before talks started yesterday, Hawaiian Cement Vice President Michael Coad said company management had some "new ideas and thoughts" for negotiations.
"It's been a while," he said. "We need to get back to the table.
"Hawaiian Cement -- I've said this from day one -- wants to get this matter resolved, and we'll come back to the table any time we're asked or invited."
During a break several hours later, however, one unidentified union negotiator told a reporter: "I didn't hear anything new. They only tell you guys that stuff."
The two sides previously said they were divided over issues on medical co-payments and sick leave.
The strikes are also causing construction projects to backlog, which will delay some home closings this spring, building industry executives say, as home buyers may have to wait weeks for developers to catch up with work delayed by the strike.
Gentry Homes has already laid off more than 55 workers at its Ewa site, according to Bob Kayser, Gentry Homes vice president and director of construction.
He said the company would have to continue laying off some of its 200 workers until the strikes are resolved. Kayser said that beginning yesterday, he expected to lay off about five workers a day.
