NAWILIWILI — Sixty tugboat workers walked off the job Thursday in a lightning-fast strike that foiled commercial sea transportation statewide and left barges and other vessels stranded.
Talks between the Inland Boatmen’s Union of the Pacific and officials from Young Brothers Ltd.-Hawaiian Tug & Barge broke off at 10 p.m. Wednesday, two hours before the three-year labor agreement ended.
The strike canceled three barge sailings headed from O‘ahu to Maui, the Big Island and Kaua‘i, as well as future sailings until further notice, according to Young Brothers’ officials. Another loaded barge destined for Lana‘i remained in Honolulu Harbor.
But the Pride of Aloha sailed out of Nawiliwili on time yesterday, even as Young Brothers scrambled to find replacements for their tug crews statewide. While the Pride is required by law to have a tug assist its arrivals and departures, because it’s equipped with thrusters, it can under circumstances of fair-weather maneuver on its own, according to Bob Crowell, state Department of Transportation Harbors Division manager for the Kaua‘i district.
Meanwhile, the shipment of everything from food to cars came to a sudden halt statewide.
“We don’t know how long we’ll be on strike,” said 42-year tugboat veteran Mike Ka‘iwi of Kaua‘i.
Ka‘iwi and fellow Kaua‘i tugboat operator Edward Serquina are two of three tug and barge operators on Kaua‘i.
Young Bros. and Hawaiian Tug & Barge officials said that, if the strike continues, they’ll replace those workers and others in a week or so with a “contingency work force” made up of qualified management tug operators.
“We’re making arrangements to take care of customer cargo and deliver what we can,” said Bill Chung, vice president of personnel and industrial relations for Young Brothers Ltd.-Hawaiian Tug & Barge.
But as of yesterday, Young Brothers scrambled to find qualified management to fill the tug slots because O‘ahu’s stevedores refused to cross the line and management had to do the stevedore work there. Stevedores are working on the Neighbor Islands.
“We have management out doing the stevedore work right now,” said Lisa Sakamoto, Young Brothers’ vice president of finance and government affairs. “We hope the stevedores are back by next week, so that we can concentrate on flying tug operators out to the Neighbor Islands.”
At Nawiliwili Harbor, a skeleton crew was on hand as Young Brothers distributed goods already stored in its warehouses, but had canceled a barge set to land here today. Their barges typically depart O‘ahu for Kaua‘i on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and tugboat operators using the Kaua‘i-based Hawaiian Tug & Barge ship “Eleu” typically assist with their arrival.
Matson and Horizon Lines ships typically arrive from the Mainland Mondays, Saturdays and Fridays, and officials for those companies are saying that their operations haven’t been affected as of yet.
The Inland Boatmen’s Union of the Pacific, the marine division of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union, was not required to give a 72-hour advance strike notice.
Tug and barge workers around the state began picketing as early as 5 a.m. Thursday along Honolulu piers outside company headquarters. On Kaua‘i, four strikers are taking turns on the picket line.
Jonathan Lono Kane, the union’s regional director, said the unresolved issue in negotiations was accrued time off — not wages, medical coverage or retirement.
“Our members are out at sea on tugboats for up to three days straight, and are on duty 24 hours a day,” he said in a statement. “Eight hours later, they load and go out again. The (time off) ratio is an issue of health and safety, and this is the message we tried unsuccessfully to convey to management.”
Company officials said they were disappointed the union rejected the latest offer.
“We thought it was generous, and we thought employees would accept it,” said Young Brothers’ Chung.
Specifically, management offered six hours of paid time off for every eight hours worked. But the union wanted eight hours of paid time off for the same time worked. “Being out to sea for a day at a time is really hard on the families,” said Kaua‘i-based tug operator Serquina, who also said that it was more a safety issue than anything else.
“We really care about the safety of our workers, but we thought the additional paid time off, plus a lump-sum increase in pay, would be sufficient,” Sakamoto said. As for the family issue, Sakamoto responded: “They chose this type of work.” The company operates a fleet of 13 tugs and 10 barges. Hawaiian Tug & Barge provides towing and ship assistance, while Young Brothers provides interisland cargo service.
“We are deeply concerned with the Neighbor Islands and the delivery of cargo, especially islands like Lana‘i and Moloka‘i that don’t receive cargo directly from the West Coast,” Chung said.
Officials at Matson Navigation Co., the largest ocean shipping company operating in Hawai‘i, said there were no immediate disruptions in their Mainland service, but were uncertain about the days to come. “As of right now, it has not impacted us,” spokesman Jeff Hull said.
Matson has one scheduled container ship scheduled to leave Honolulu for Oakland, Calif., on Saturday. The next incoming ships won’t arrive until Sunday. Hull said the company will rely on other tug-barge companies such as Sause Bros., Inc..
Chung said his unionized workers currently earn about $69,000 for working eight months a year, factoring in paid accrued time off. They earn more than $100,000 if they work the entire year, he said. He said the company offered to pay 100 percent of their health premiums, increase pension contributions and increase pay in a lump sum, “but the demand for time off was unreasonable.”
“Currently, our employees earn four hours of time off for working as little as 15 minutes a day,” he said. “What they wanted was eight hours of time off for working as little as 15 minutes, a 100 percent increase.”
Union officials did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment on the specifics of their demands. However, they have said the time-off issue was a matter of safety. “People need to understand that our members work out of extremely busy harbors, and are routinely dealing with huge, heavy cargos and some of the largest ships in the world,” Kane said in a statement. “Our channels are well known for their dangerous currents and strong winds, and Hawai‘i is under small-craft warnings 300 days of the year. That’s what we face every day at sea.”
Nawiliwili Harbor typically sees 60 to 70, 45-foot containers delivered via barge each arrival, or more than 100, 20-foot containers. In 2002, the harbor handled 623,884 tons of cargo to Kaua‘i.
On the Net:
Young Brothers-Hawaiian Tug & Barge: http://www.htbyb.com/
Inlandboatmen’s Union of the Pacific: http://www.ibu.org/
Phil Hayworth, business editor, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or phayworth@pulitzer.net.
Jaymes Song, Associated Press writer, contributed to this report.
