Cement talks stuck on health benefits

Negotiations continue past the midnight strike deadline

Negotiators for Hawaiian Cement and the Teamsters Union worked into the night yesterday to head off a strike set to start this morning.

At 12:01 a.m. today, the earliest that union members could have walked off the job, negotiations were still ongoing. Both sides indicated they were making progress, but declined to elaborate or discuss sticking points.

KEY FACTS IN CONTRACT TALKS What: Negotiations between Hawaiian Cement and Hawaii Teamsters & Allied Workers, Local 996 Who: Up to 28 workers who unload and distribute imported cement at plants in Hawaii At issue: The company wants the workers to pay 20 percent of their medical premiums. Union leaders say they are open to the idea but want a bigger pay raise than what the company has offered. At stake: A strike would disrupt Hawaii's supply of cement used to make concrete.

Huddled at the Hawaiian Cement offices in the Campbell Industrial Park, the negotiators, led by Local 996 President Mel Kahele and company Vice President Michael Coad, met with a federal mediator.

Coad has said progress was made in talks Tuesday, but Kahele said management walked out after the union presented a package for a new contract re-opener in the second year to deal with rising medical costs.

Last night, Coad said, "I think something can be worked out tonight." Kahele thought so as well, saying, "I feel positive."

An apparent sticking point is that the company is not offering enough of a pay raise to cover a 20 percent medical premium co-payment sought by Hawaiian Cement. The company has offered a $1-per-hour pay raise in the first year of a five-year contract and an 80-cents-per-hour raise each year after that.

The workers threatening to strike are responsible for unloading and distributing cement at plants on Oahu, Maui and the Big Island.

Scott Ishikawa, state Department of Transportation spokesman, said a long strike by Hawaiian Cement workers could prolong the H-1 freeway widening project in Waimalu.

The state closed both directions of the freeway the past two nights to connect a sixth Ewa-bound lane on the Waimalu Viaduct to the existing roadway.

Contractor Kiewit Pacific is filling a 5-foot-wide gap between the old and new sections with nine inches of concrete. Area manager Jamie Wisenbaker is confident Hawaiian Cement has enough cement on hand to make the concrete his company needs for the job even if there is a strike.

"The quantity that we need is small," Wisenbaker said.

But Kiewit needs more concrete to complete the project by the planned opening in April, Ishikawa said. Hawaiian Cement, Ameron Hawaii and Ameron's sister company Island Ready-Mix Concrete are the major suppliers of concrete on Oahu. They get their cement to make the concrete from Hawaiian Cement.

Wisenbaker said if the workers strike, "It's going to shut everybody down."

He said his company has not made any contingencies in case of a strike because Hawaiian Cement is the only supplier of cement.

Kiewit's other major project on Oahu is the motor pool for the new Stryker Brigade at Schofield Barracks, Wisenbaker said.

Hawaiian Dredging and Construction Co. President Bill Wilson said he has not made any contingency plans either because "everyone in the industry is optimistic the two parties will resolve their difference without any work stoppage."

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