Two companion bills (House Bill 714/Senate Bill 824) are moving through the Hawaii Legislature proposing to change the labor union jurisdiction in Hawaii for what is known as marine “line-handling.”

The opposing factions are: the Hawaii tug and barge operators and their customers who oppose the change; versus the islands’ stevedores represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Workers Union (ILWU) who support it.

Line-handling is the mooring of vessels to a pier (tie-up) and the reverse unmooring (let-go). Stevedore unions have traditionally performed this for large self-propelled oceangoing ships. Shoreside line-handlers are needed because these ships’ crewmembers cannot access the wharf when mooring and unmooring.

It’s different for tugs and barges. Tug crews easily and safely access the wharf to tie-up and let-go the barge they are towing. This is due to the smaller size of barges (compared to ships), the great maneuverability of tugs and significantly lower freeboard of both vessels.

This practical reality led to tug crews handling the mooring lines of the barges they are towing. It also allowed the tug and barge industry to operate more efficiently without having to schedule stevedore line-handlers.

For 100 years, Hawaii tug crews have handled the mooring lines of the barges they are towing regardless of the barge size and type and nature of the trade. This included a fleet of pineapple barges beginning in the 1920s, petroleum tank barges beginning in the 1930s, and the Young Brothers general cargo freight barges beginning in the late 1940s.

The exception is Matson’s use of stevedores to handle the lines of its interisland container barges. This began with delivery of Matson’s cellular container barges in the 1980s and continues today with its deck container barges, the Haleakala and the Mauna Loa.

The other common carrier general cargo barge lines in the Hawaii trade — including Young Brothers (YB) and Aloha Marine Lines (AML) — still adhere to the longtime past practice of tug crews handling barge mooring lines. These operators do employ ILWU stevedores and marine clerks for cargo handling.

All the Hawaii trade operators of ocean towing tugs submitted testimony to the Legislature opposing the proposed legislation including YB, AML, Sause Bros., American Marine Corp. and Olympic Tug & Barge.

Also opposing are the merchant cargo owners (known as shippers) that use specialized barges to transport bulk commodities from Oahu to the neighbor islands. They are Par Hawaii and Aloha Petroleum (petroleum products on tank barges), Hawaiian Cement (cement on pneumatic barge), and Hawaii Gas (propane on gas tank barge).

In the Hawaii trade, virtually all crewmembers on the ocean towing and harbor assist tugs belong to the Inlandboatmen’s Union of the Pacific (IBU), which is the Marine Division of the ILWU.

Therefore, this isn’t a jurisdictional issue between two different labor unions. Rather it’s between the tug and barge operators and their customers, versus a labor union representing both members currently performing the work (i.e., the IBU tug crews) and those wishing to obtain the work (i.e., the ILWU stevedores).

The proposed line-handling jurisdictional change would not result in a reduction in IBU tug crews, but would lead to new ILWU stevedore hires. This overall manpower increase would add to Hawaii transportation costs.

An ILWU line-handling assignment is a lucrative and special four-hour minimum callout, often at overtime rates approaching $150 in total compensation per hour for a job that routinely requires less than 30 minutes.

Enactment of the legislation would essentially result in state-imposed featherbedding. It would require more employees than necessary, add time-consuming procedures increasing labor costs and reducing productivity. This would impact all consumers in Hawaii with higher costs, especially neighbor island residents.

This legislation is an unwarranted intervention into what is a labor jurisdictional issue of the kind that has traditionally been dealt with in negotiations between management and labor, and should be left to that process.

Michael N. Hansen is president of the Hawaii Shippers’ Council representing merchant cargo owners, and an independent consultant on maritime business.