Boyd Isnec, chair of the plantation unit at the Del Monte Oahu operation, addressed the ILWU Convention. Photo by Lewis Wright.
By Steve Stallone
Globalization hit the shores of Hawaii again last February when Del Monte announced it was moving its pineapple operations, its jobs and its specially developed fruit to Costa Rica, Brazil and Kenya. At the Vancouver Convention representatives of the 700 workers who grow, pick and pack pineapple and run a juice plant, and who are now being tossed aside, turned to their ILWU brothers and sisters for support.
"Del Monte says they don’t need Kunia Plantation anymore," Darlene Palmerton, a soon-to-be-unemployed pineapple worker told the delegates. "The managers met with the workers and announced the closure. They thanked the workers for their many years of service and then told them to find another job."
Del Monte planted its last pineapple seeds in February and plans its last harvest in 2008. After that, the pineapple workers who have toiled for generations in Del Monte’s Oahu fields will be cut loose and the plantation community abandoned.
"Kunia Camp at one time was a place where neighbors grew old together, watched each other’s children and you could keep your doors unlocked because everyone knows everyone living in the camp," Palmerton said. "Growing up as a child in Kunia Camp was a safe haven. Kunia Elementary School was up the road from our home. The church was located across the street and next to that was Kunia Gym where we could play basketball. As I got older I couldn’t wait to start work and pick pineapple over the summer to make some money of my own. Thirty-four years later I’m still working for Del Monte and have raised my own children in the same environment."
Hawaii is where the new golden sweet variety of pineapple was developed that is now being grown elsewhere by cheaper, non-union labor, leaving the ILWU workers jobless.
"When Del Monte managers from Costa Rica wanted to learn how to grow pineapples, they asked the old timers to show them how," Palmerton said. "With pride, the old timers showed them how to prep the land, plant the seed and pick the fruit. These managers thanked the old timers with a pat on the back and went back to Costa Rica to start their own pineapple plantation. The old timers were so happy to help, thinking they helped create another pineapple plantation like Kunia Camp in a different country."
But instead their conscientiousness was used against them. The workers feel particularly offended since they built the industry and made the company profitable.
"I myself and my co-workers worked very hard with our blood, sweat and tears to keep Del Monte going and become successful," Boyd Isnec, the chair of the plantation unit there, said when he addressed the convention. "Now we know what kind of people we are working for. But we are not giving up. We have a petition we would like everyone here to sign. It asks Del Monte to be fair to us, to help us with money and benefits so we can make the transition to new jobs. They owe us this much."
The workers are seeking enhanced severance pay and an extension of medical benefits six months beyond their date of final employment. Through Sen. Dan Inouye (D-HI) and Sen. Dan Akaka’s (D-HI) offices workers have access to job training and job training funds, but the company is not willing to adjust job schedules to allow workers to attend the trainings.
The workers fear being left homeless as well as jobless. Del Monte has agreed to give the plantation camp homes to the workers—the company would otherwise be liable for demolition and disposal costs—but there is a $190,000 per year shortfall between what the workers pay in rent and the actual costs of operating the camps. The union has asked Del Monte to fund the residents’ association so they have a chance to keep the housing, but so far the company has refused.
Del Monte is not shutting down its Hawaii operations because it is losing money—the company’s gross profits have averaged more than $300 million a year for the last five years. It can just make even more money growing pineapple elsewhere.
"We have gone through plantation closures before," International Representative Tracy Takano said. "But even sugar plantations that were going bankrupt were more willing to help than Del Monte."
To get a copy of the petition to sign and get others to sign, download it at: www.ilwu.org/about/Convention/2006/index.cfm.
Send financial support for the Del Monte workers to: ILWU Local 142 / 451 Atkinson Drive / Honolulu, HI 96814. Earmark checks for "Del Monte workers."
