Some dock workers
continue walkout

Sea-Land clerical workers fail
to show up, despite judge's order

By Rick Daysog and Jim Witty
Star-Bulletin

Sea-Land Service officials today turned away customers as the work stoppage that began yesterday continued to handcuff one of the two major Hawaii-mainland shipping companies.

While nearly all of Sea-Land's and Matson Navigation Co.'s dock workers and cargo operators were back on the job after a federal judge ordered them back yesterday, many of Sea-Land's clerical workers at its delivery gate didn't show up for work, shutting down cargo flow from the company's terminal.

"We've told (customers) that the gate is shut down because the clerks are not in," said Kurt Pruitt, Sea-Land's port manager.

"This will have a significant impact. But the impact is on the customers because they cannot get their cargo."

The stoppage has delayed Sea-Land's shipping schedule by one day. Pruitt said the company's vessel, the Sea-Land Discovery, arrived last night and was supposed to leave for Oakland, Calif., at midnight tonight. The departure has been delayed until tomorrow, he said.

Cargo operators and dock workers are currently unloading the ship, he added.

Pruitt said the company turned away several customers today who wanted to pick up cars that were shipped here from the mainland. He said the company is working with the union and hopes to resolve the issue.

Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor ordered the workers back to work last night, citing the necessity to keep "commerce and supplies of an island state" moving.

Some 400 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union walked off their jobs yesterday protesting a move by Hawaii Metal Recycling to bypass local union agencies and hire workers through the national union.

The ILWU advised its members to go back to work after the order.

The stoppage shut down operations yesterday at Matson and Sea-Land, Hawaii's largest cargo shippers.

"This is an argument between the ILWU and Hawaii Metal Recycling and it has nothing to do with us," said Richard Bliss, vice president and area manager for Matson Navigation Co.

"We're going to be out thousands of dollars. Obviously, the people who pay the price are our customers."

Bliss said that workers had unloaded about a third of the Pfeiffer's cargo when the work stoppage occurred.

The stoppage delayed unloading of goods for local stores such as Liberty House, Safeway Stores and Times Super Market, including perishable items.

"We can't do anything if we can't pick up our containers and drop containers off," said Tom Greene, general manager of Triple B Forwarders Inc., which loads and unloads cargo.

The court order reinforced an arbitrator's ruling yesterday ordering the dock workers back on the job immediately. Timothy Ho of the Hawaii Employers Council said the ILWU was not represented at the arbitration hearing.

The dispute centers over Hawaii Metal Recycling's attempt to hire union workers directly from the national union and not go through two local agencies -- McCabe Hamilton & Renny Co. or Hawaii Stevedores Inc. -- which the company says pad the number of workers needed for a job.

Jim Banigan, general manager at Hawaii Metal, said the company has always used union labor.

"We just can't afford to be forced to hire our ship-loading labor through hiring agents (who) insist on setting staffing levels themselves -- and require us to use 27 longshoremen on a job that could be done by seven longshoremen," he said.

But ILWU spokesman Nate Lum said it's a matter of jurisdiction and worker safety.

"The local people here don't have any jobs and he's bringing in imported workers from the mainland to replace us," Lum said.

Patrick Jones, attorney for Hawaii Stevedores, Matson Terminals and McCabe, Hamilton & Renny Co., told Gillmor the union "ignored" the arbitrator's decision yesterday, and he stressed that the work stoppage had crippled maritime commerce in the state.

Gillmor's order is effective for 10 days. She scheduled a hearing for 9 a.m. June 6 to consider either a preliminary injunction or an extension of the restraining order.

ILWU attorney Rebecca Covert argued that union leaders had not had an opportunity to review pertinent documents and urged Gillmor not to grant the order.

Jones claimed the work stoppage was an "explicit violation" of a no-strike clause in collective-bargaining agreements and called the widespread action "unprecedented."

Ho, who represents management in the Hawaii stevedore industry, said there were at least three vessels idling in port yesterday afternoon.

He declined to estimate the economic effect of the work stoppage.

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Star-Bulletin writers Russ Lynch, Gregg Kakesako
and the Associated Press contributed to this report.