Labor Intensive

Honolulu Weekly
October 31 - November 6, 2001

Honolulu Diary

Another piece of legislation likely to pass during the special session, according to the local Sierra Club, is Senate Bill 15. It appropriates $1.5 million to deploy as many as 450 laid-off workers for three-month contracts to help alleviate some of the state's most pressing environmental problems, including dengue fever-related mosquito eradication, control of miconia plant growth (a major, fast-growing threat to native forests) and coqui frog and fire ant eradication.

SB15 was conceived by Democrats Rep. Brian Schatz (Makiki-Tantalus-Manoa) and Sen. Kalani English (Wailuku-Kahului-Upcountry), the latter having a personal interest, given that he's one of the 69 residents who have contracted dengue in the Islands. Not surprisingly, Hana, where dozens of Hotel Hana-Maui Local 5 workers were given pink slips and near where dengue first appeared, is designated to be the first location to deploy the temporary workers.

It's a flash of brilliance, a New Deal-type of program like Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps," says Sierra Club Director Jeff Mikulina. "The bill has received widespread support from environmentalists, unions, the Chamber of Commerce and no opposition at the legislature. Anytime you can get all those folks singing from the same hymnal, you're on to something."

Says Local 5's Eric Gill: "It makes sense to put all these things together--the economy, dengue, miconia, coqui--and to use government funds for this. Hana has been especially hard hit; the hotel's the only major employer in town."

Gill adds that his union is in discussions with state and county officials and Hotel Hana management to secure, at minimum, provision of health coverage for the temporary workers. "We don't have a deal yet," Gill adds, "but management is interested and is cooperating."

-- Chad Blair

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