• Unions make Hawai‘i better • Influencing with integrity • Same ol’ humans • A Rockwell moment Unions make Hawai‘i better When it comes to equal pay for men and women, there is no substitute for a collective bargaining agreement
• Unions make Hawai‘i better • Influencing with integrity • Same ol’ humans • A Rockwell moment
Unions make Hawai‘i better
When it comes to equal pay for men and women, there is no substitute for a collective bargaining agreement (union contract).
In most union contracts, pay is based on classification. Men and women in the same classification receive the same minimum pay. The term; equal pay for equal work, is subjective, and therefore ambiguous. With the public emphasis by employer organizations on union bosses and union dues, many workers who are eligible for union membership are scared off. I have been on both sides of the labor relations fence. It seems most strange to me that we insist on a written agreement when we buy a house or sell other property, but when they are selling their life to an employer, many people are reluctant to insist on written terms defining the mutual responsibilities of the boss and the worker.
Many workers do not know that the right to free collective bargaining is defined by federal law. Our public schools which are supposed to help prepare our children for life in the real world, spend very little time on teaching our kids about the benefits of union membership. As a former AFL-CIO official, I spent a great deal of my time battling the ILWU for jurisdiction, but there is no doubt in my mind that Hawai‘i is a far better place because of he influence of the ILWU on sugar and pineapple cultivation.
Harry Boranian, Lihu‘e
Influencing with integrity
With all due respect to Mr. Coll’s ability to rearrange the context when partially quoting me in his April 20 letter, I plainly wrote that a board/group will hate a newcomer for using tactics of public embarrassment or humiliation when trying to tip the scales in favor of his agenda.
In fact, the Ethics Board battle raged long before Mr. Bieber’s entry into it. As an activist cheerleader, Mr. Coll gives Mr. Bieber all the credit and none to the rest of the board. I give Mr. Bieber little credit and most of the credit to the rest of the board for doing the right thing when it became the right time.
As for the alternative tactics Mr. Coll requests, I would say first you do all you can to earn the respect from others serving with you. You inspire their cooperation by being cooperative yourself. In meetings, public or otherwise, you help your fellows, or your bosses, appear competent before others. You express your concerns in private. Your right to privately confront is earned by your public support.
Let’s say, for example, one wanted to make changes with Ho‘ike Community Television. “Influencing with Integrity” might save someone, someone like you, Mr. Coll, years of futility.
Pete Antonson, Kalaheo
Same ol’ humans
Our families have visited the Garden Island many times. Recently we have learned of the deplorable situation for shearwaters and petrels (endangered birds) at the St. Regis resort.
The resort claims to have employed a biologist to assist them in mitigating the deaths of endemic birds. The recent $100 million renovation was to have included protection plans for migrating birds, who have not evolved with the confusion of human lighting schemes or developments.
Unfortunately, the supposed plans for lowering lighting shades in the rooms and shutting off pool lights and other non-essential decorative lighting is not being implemented by the “trained” staff. The reason given is “fear of impacting the guest experience”
Guests are “advised” with a letter on check-in of the danger to the birds during the short migration season. Sixty endangered birds have died on the St. Regis site as of last year, according to the bird monitoring group Save Our Shearwaters.
We are saddened truly, that the beauty and wildness the St. Regis so eagerly annexes for the profit of the hotel and guests should be so shamefully discounted for the sake of some fancy lighting and ritzy guests.
Accordingly, some five wildlife groups, from Kaua‘i and the Mainland, have filed a lawsuit to force substantial compliance. Feel-good public relations guidelines just won’t cut it.
Our family and the greater public learning of this “trampling of paradise for the almighty buck” await the outcome. Humans seem to be the same everywhere.
Susan Rudnicki, Manhattan Beach, Calif.
A Rockwell moment
When pondering the direction of our country under the Obama administration, and in deciding who to vote for in future elections, it may be prudent to keep the following in mind, especially if you’re one of those among us who actually think a government is good if it offers you “free stuff:
1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is the beginning of the end of any nation!
I don’t know about the rest of you, but it’s about time we take a deep breath and try hard to understand that the more of us who believe in government-controlled services and businesses the worse it will get for you, yes, you! It’s time for “A Norman Rockwell Moment” as is credited for the above simple truths.
Gordon Oswald, Kapa‘a
