The End of Hawaii's Plantations: Back to the Future?

Abstract

This article explores the response taken by Hawaii's people and society to workers displaced by the closing of sugar and pineapple plantations. Rooted in culture, history, and a labor market that is institutionally different from that of much of the United States, the response to structural unemployment is both unconscious and systematic. Also explored is the potential impact these closures can have on Hawaii's economy and society. Will Hawaii go back to the future and return to a society dominated by a business oligarchy such as existed throughout much of the plantation era? Or will it go back to the future as happened with the Democratic Revolution of 1954 and the birth of the modern Hawaiian economy? Can we distinguish between the two approaches today? These questions will be resolved based on whether Hawaii's people decide on a renewal of traditional ideas and beliefs or on an overthrow of these ideas.

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References

1. An example of aloha is the hanai pattern of child adoption practiced in rural areas as late as the 1930s. A hanai child was given by its true parents to its foster parents as a mark of love and respect. The hanai child in turn often received greater attention by its foster parents than did their own children. This practice continued somewhat differently and was also taken up by other cultures when parents would offer a child they could not care for to friends. “Hanai” means “to feed” in Hawaiian.

“Business Rolls the Dice,” ibid.

3. It has been suggested that education and skill training are means of reducing risk. The problem is forecasting what skills and education one would need. Unlike financial markets where risk-minimizing strategies are well known, choosing this type of training is also all or nothing. See “New World of Work”; “Business Rolls the Dice.”

4. Louis S. Jacobson , Robert J. Lalonde , and Daniel G. Sullivan , “The Costs of Worker Dislocation,” Challenge, 37(1):56 (Jan.-Feb. 1994).

5. For a detailed history, see Lawrence Fuchs , Hawaii Pono: A Social History (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1961). It should be noted that Hawaii did not become a state until 1959. The Big Five were American Factors Ltd., Castle & Cooke Ltd., Alexander Baldwin Ltd., C. Brewer & Co., Ltd., and Theo. H. Davies & Co., Ltd.

6. Jack Hall , “The Political and Economic Situation in the Territory of Hawai'i” (Report to joint meeting of the executive boards of Locals 136, 142, and 150, ILWU Library).

7. Ibid.

8. Ibid.

9. Ibid.

10.

10. Ibid.

11.

11. See Fuchs , Hawaii Pono, chap. 13.

12.

12. Cited in ibid., p. 312.

13.

13. Ibid., p. 327.

14.

14. Edward D. Beechert , Working in Hawaii: A Labor History (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1985), chap. 15.

15.

15. Ibid.

16.

16. Onomea Sugar Company and International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union, Contract, 30 Jan. 1947, sec. 7, “Conversion of Perquisites and Minimum Guarantee” (Center for Labor Education and Research, University of Hawaii, Labor History Archive, ILWU Contract File). “Summary of Transcripts of Negotiations 1948,” sec. 23, contains a history of what was agreed on in 1946 and records of negotiations on this issue covering the 1948 agreement. Management did not want housing to be covered under the collective bargaining agreement, but the union did. Eventually a joint management-labor committee was agreed on. See “Summary of Transcripts of Negotiations 1948” (Center for Labor Education and Research, University of Hawaii, Labor History Archive, ILWU Contract File).

17.

17. “Housing Report” (Report delivered at the twentieth convention of ILWU Local 142, Honolulu, HI 19-23 Sept. 1994, Center for Labor Education and Research, University of Hawaii, Labor History Archive, ILWU Contract File), p. 1.

18.

18. State of Hawaii, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, “A Study of Displaced Sugar Workers Focuses on Puna Sugar Co., Ltd.,” Dec. 1982, p. 10.

19.

19. “Judge Rules on Hamakua Case,” Honolulu Advertiser, 16 Dec. 1994.

20.

20. “What's Ahead for the ILWU in 1993,” Voice of the ILWU, p. 3 (Dec. 1992).

21.

21. “Housing Report,” p. 3.

22.

22. Cited in “Lanai Pineapple Workers `Graduate' to Hotel Work,” Voice of the ILWU, p. 3 (Mar. 1991).

23.

23. Chuck Freedman , “Key Institutions: Can You Name the Big Five?” The Price of Paradise, ed. Randall W. Roth (Honolulu: Mutual, 1993), 2:82.

24.

24. Quoted in Jeff Barrus , “East Side—West Side,” Hawaii Business, p. 20 (Nov. 1994).