Letter from Dennis Mitsunaga to John White and Pacific Resource Partnership/The Carpenters Union

Aug. 7, 2012 - PRLog -- Back in the day...

When I was working in the construction industry in the 1960’s, the unions were just getting organized and it was an exciting time for all of us.

I remember working as a laborer on the Sand Island Bascule (Draw) Bridge (spanning the second entrance to Honolulu Harbor) and getting paid $2.30 per hour. Union carpenters on that job were elated to be earning $3.30 per hour because not too long before that (I was told), carpenters were earning only $1.80 per hour and laborers even less.

I also recall that in those days and in the years to follow, carpenters (and other tradesmen) very seldom purchased their own homes because they were not con¬ dent that they could afford to maintain the mortgage payments.

After the Bascule Bridge project, I worked on the ¬ first of Henry Kaiser’s Hawaii Kai subdivisions, laying water and sewer lines down what is today’s Kawaihae Street. In 1962, there was nothing out there, no homes, no shops, no people; nothing except heat, dust and hoards of ¬ field mice. If you were not careful, the mice would devour your lunch and you would be literally “out to lunch,” or more correctly “out of lunch.”

The working environment was very unpleasant but I didn’t mind since I was now earning $2.70 per hour. (Tuition at UH Manoa during that time was only $93 per semester plus $15 for lab fees and another $250 for engineering books).

After Hawaii Kai, I worked on the Kahala Hilton Hotel Project literally full-time while also enrolled in the College of Engineering at UH Manoa.   is time I was earning $4.85 per hour laying out for the carpenters and supervising the site work and heavy equipment crews.

I really got to appreciate the union’s pay scale when I ¬ finally graduated and went to work as an entry-level Structural Engineer; my starting salary was $350 per month, less than half the wage I previously earned as a Carpenter Foreman.

Today, union carpenters earn about $40/per hour plus retirement, vacation and medical bene¬fits, and even 401Ks. They can now afford to purchase their own homes just like everyone else, largely due to the efforts of their union leaders. In my opinion, the union leaders did much throughout the years to improve the quality of life of their carpenters and other trades by leading the way during negotiations with the general contractors.

Read more: http://www.hawaiibusinessonline.com/article/an-open-lette...