Hawaii may be light-years away from those labor-union- organizing, plantation-era days from which Japanese, Chinese and Filipino laborers struggled to survive, but labor unions are still an important part of the island structure.

It was that daily fight that made Hawaii workers unite, banding together first in ethnic society groups and then in structured labor unions. Labor is a powerful part of the Hawaii dynamic.

Now all that is important as Hawaii goes through a new period of labor tension.

The push comes not at the docks or acres of agriculture, but the Hawaii hospitals and their organized nurses.

Separately on strike, as of press time, are hotel workers at most of the island’s major hotels, including Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort, Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort &Spa, Moana Surfrider — a Westin Resort Spa, The Royal Hawaiian, Sheraton Princess Kaiulani, Sheraton Waikiki, Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort &Spa, and the Sheraton Kauai Resort.

Now Gov. Josh Green is offering himself as a neutral party in the dispute between Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women &Children and the Hawaii Nurses Association.

The issue, according to the nurses, is not pay but working conditions, especially the patient load — how many patients one nurse can care for on a daily basis. Being a nurse requires advanced training, changing work schedules, plus handling high-stress demands. Mistakes when you are responsible for life-saving care are not an option.

Green and state Attorney General Anne Lopez are not allowed to negotiate in the labor dispute because it is between two private entities, but the service providers, hospitals and nurses are vital to Hawaii, so the government does have a stake in ending the disagreement. In his written statement, the governor suggesting using a federal mediator to “help break through barriers and guide both sides toward a fair agreement that serves our community and allows us to care for our sickest children.”

Hawaii is labor friendly. At more than 20%, it has the highest rate of union members in the nation.

Gov. Green has urged both sides to lower their strike-fueled voices, saying the picket line chants and demonstrations have been “very caustic” and “are frankly detrimental to reaching an agreement.”

Not mentioned, however, was the management decision to lock out nurses and instead bring in temporary nurses. Replacements and lockouts are no way to work toward agreement, although the hospital is essential and must continue to function.

Green’s remarkable popularity is based in part on his ability to if not bring together, at least not offend either side in a dispute.

The hospital and its nurses should both consider Green’s position that “the nurses and the hospital are going to work as an ohana again, some day, and the longer it lasts … (the) harder (it will be) for them to heal.”

The prescription is written with a compromise, not a victory.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com