Labor's love lost on today's political front

Honolulu Star-Bulletin
September 14, 2003

On Politics
Richard Borreca

The ties between Hawaii's political leadership and organized labor appear to be slipping.

If Hawaii entered the union 44 years ago as a home to strong, pro-labor Democrats, it appears headed for its 45th anniversary of statehood next August with little enthusiasm for politicians linked to labor.

When John Burns was governor in the 1960s and '70s, late-night labor negotiations frequently were divided into the time before Burns telephoned and the progress made after he called.

Although his official power ended with directing state workers, Burns had links and alliances with the major unions, including the ILWU, once the state's most powerful labor voice. After Burns, the political power and interest of Hawaii governors in private labor negotiations started to wane.

Hard economic times and tough negotiations worked against former Gov. George Ariyoshi's enjoying the same clout Burns had with unions, but when John Waihee became governor there was much more money to go around and Waihee found himself a popular labor governor.

Waihee also worked hard to court labor and to see things through labor's eyes, a vision that was lost when Ben Cayetano became governor.

As much as Cayetano was an early supporter of labor who repeatedly said he identified with the working man's and woman's plight, Cayetano endured a bitter series of labor strikes.

Although government employee raises and benefits during most of Cayetano's term were generous, negotiations were marked with bad feelings and an enmity against Cayetano that lasted after the contracts were signed.

If Democrat Cayetano went out of office unloved by labor, Republican Gov. Linda Lingle came in already suspect. Labor unions, except for the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly and the police union, SHOPO, shunned her. Lingle went after the labor vote, but never stopped telling supporters that her administration would be "pro-business."

Over at City Hall, Mayor Jeremy Harris also is in office without the help or support of public worker unions, although he did have private unions supporting him in past races. But the Teamsters strike against the city-funded bus company has chopped off the last remnants of labor support for Harris.

Hawaii Government Employees Association leaders also are mulling over changes in the Legislature. Randy Perreira, the union's deputy executive director, told state workers recently that legislators are "less inclined to be worker- or union-friendly."

Ask Lingle what she would or could do to help bring Oahu's bus strike to an end and all you get is a gubernatorial shrug. While the strike is terribly inconvenient, it isn't a threat to life or property, so there is no need to get involved, she says. That sort of sentiment is in direct opposition to the feeling held by previous governors, who believed they could make a difference in labor talks.

If Hawaii's political leaders can get along without Hawaii's union leaders, the result is going to be a dramatic shift in the balance of political power.