Lapas attēli
PDF
ePub

sive pineapple. Tourism, a possible short-term solution, will be adversely affected by the energy crisis.

Of the island population of some 5,800, the working population is approximately 2,000. The phaseout will directly affect the employment of approximately 500 people, the Subcommittee learned, and will have a far greater effect on employment indirectly. The current rate of unemployment on Molokai, according to the Molokai Task Force, is 20 per cent including seasonal workers who seek employment for only five to six months. The Task Force felt that, if the pineapple industry would continue operations for two to three years, attempts to phase into other industries could be successful.

(See Appendix for results of a survey of the residents of Molokai conducted by the Molokai Task Force.)

Robert Singleton, Molokai Superintendent, Dole, reported that Dole has 175 regular and 250 seasonal employees. Currently, workers are employed one day a week; in season (May to August), they are employed five to six days a week. He stated that the cost of production compared to the selling price made it impossible to operate at a profit on Molokai. Because it takes two years to get the first fruit from a plant and the company had planted no acreage in the past year, a change in the plan to close out the Molokai operation would not be feasible from a cost standpoint.

From the discussion with residents, the Subcommittee learned that some people left unemployed by the pineapple industry go into construction work on the island or go to Honolulu for construction jobs or employment in the tourist industry. The residents had not been contacted by the state employment service, and the island has no manpower retraining program.

The Subcommittee learned that the payroll on Molokai during the peak pineapple season was approximately $22 million and the rent to homesteaders between $150,000 to $200,000. Further revenue is generated by shipping.

The unemployment problem is made more difficult to solve because many of the workers affected are in the 45 to 50 year age bracket who, even with retraining, would be hard to place. In many cases, age is complicated by the fact that English is either not spoken or is haltingly spoken.

The Subcommittee visited the Del Monte Plantation office and was told that the company currently has 132 regular employees on a four to five day work week and a moratorium of layoffs. The plantation was working seven days the week of the Subcommittee visit. Del Monte has four test acres on Molokai in papaya with 777 to 1,089 trees per acre.

Molokai is a difficult growing spot from an agronomical point of view because of high winds and the resulting loss of irrigation through evaporation. Additional production problems are caused by the barge costs involved in transporting the pineapple from Molokai to the Oahu canneries and the recovery loss resulting from the delay in reaching the canneries.

The Subcommittee met with Molokai community leaders in the afternoon of January 4. Following is a list of some of those present: Mrs. Sophie Duvauchelle, President and Manager, Duvauchelle Inc. and Realtor, Kaunakakai, Molokai.

Mr. Tom Marrow, Manager, Hotel Molokai, Kaunakakai, Molokai. Mrs. Jean Egusa, Part Owner, Friendly Market Center, Kaunakakai, Molokai.

Mr. Richard Misaki, President and Manager, Misaki Inc., Kaunakakai, Molokai.

Mrs. Pearl Petro, Manager, Bank of Hawaii, Kaunakakai Branch, Kaunakakai, Molokai.

Mr. Louis Hao, President, Molokai Chamber of Commerce, Chairman, Sub-Committee on Visitor Industry, Molokai Task Force, Kaunakakai, Molokai.

Mr. Wilfred Imamura, Owner, Imamura's Store, Kaunakakai, Molokai.

Mr. John Yuen, Part Owner and Assistant Manager, Kualapuu Market LTD., Kualapuu, Molokai.

Mr. Henry Yamashita, Manager, Molokai Electric Company LTD., Kaunakakai, Molokai.

Mr. Fred Bicoy, Chairman, Sub-Committee on Commerce and Industry, Molokai Task Force, Kaunakakai, Molokai.

Mr. Aka Hodgins, Manager, Molokai Ranch LTD., Kaunakakai, Molokai.

Mrs. Mary Rawlins, Field Representative, Employment Service, State of Hawaii, Kaunakakai, Molokai.

Mr. Louis Aidem, Social Worker, Public Welfare Department, State of Hawaii, Kaunakakai, Molokai.

Mrs. Pauline Castanera, Secretary, Molokai Rock and Equipment Company, Kaunakakai, Molokai.

Mr. Sidney Kent, Editor, Ka Molokai, Kaunakakai, Molokai. Mr. Howard Nakamura, Director, Maui County Planning Dept., Co-Chairman, Molokai Task Force, County of Maui, Wailuku, Maui. Mr. Daniel Shigeta, Chairman, Sub-Committee on Agriculture, Molokai Task Force, County Extension Service, Maui County, Wailuku, Maui.

Emphasis was on the need for improved transportation to and from Molokai. The airport on the island can only accommodate planes with 65 people; a larger airport could accommodate planes which could ship pineapples to the mainland. Also needed, many leaders said, was a medium draft harbor to accommodate ocean-going barges and tugs to ship agricultural products from the island. The Subcommittee was told that 1.500 people, or two-fifths of the population, currently receive some form of social service assistance. Community leaders expect a 20 to 25 percent drop in total income with the closing of the pineapple operations.

The Subcommittee also toured the OEO office on Molokai and Lokahi Pacific, a fishing cooperative subsidized by federal funds under OEO.

Maui

On January 6, the Subcommittee extensively toured the Maui Land and Pineapple Company plantation and the Castle and Cooke sugar plantation on the island of Maui.

On January 7, the Subcommittee met with Joe Hartley, Director of Operations of Maui Land and Pineapple Company, and Lloyd Sera, Purchasing Agent for Maui Land and Pineapple Company. The Sub

committee was told that Maui Land and Pineapple, which has had no profit in the last seven years, is beginning to break even. The Company owns 70 percent of the land it grows on, has 5 percent of the world pineapple market, is the fortieth largest cannery of all kinds in the United States and employs 650 year-round workers and 3,000 summer workers. The Company is the only company in the last five years without excessive inventories and has 85 percent of the private label business. While the Company has no expansion plans because of the move of the other companies, it does expect to be able to remain in business.

The following Members of the Subcommittee participated in this investigation: Representatives William D. Ford, Chairman; Patsy T. Mink, special appointment; and Earl F. Landgrebe. Staff assistants included Thomas R. Jolly, Counsel of the Subcommittee, Patricia R. Morse, Subcommittee clerk, and Edith C. Baum, minority counsel.

II. THE HISTORY OF PINEAPPLE IN HAWAII

Pineapple is Hawaii's second largest agricultural industry-second only to sugar-and has for many decades been a source of both income and pride for the residents of Hawaii.

Pineapple is a native fruit of Brazil and was first recorded in Hawaiian history in 1813. For many years, pineapple grew wild in Hawaii's warm and sunny climate.

In 1886, the foundation for today's industry was laid by Captain John Kidwell, an English horticulturalist, who imported 1,000 plants of the "Smooth Cayenne" variety from Jamaica in the West Indies.

James Dole, who came from Boston in 1899, is recognized as the pioneer of the pineapple canning industry. Dole founded the Wahiawa plantation in Hawaii in 1901. The first crop in 1903 produced 1893 cases. Since that time, the pineapple industry has grown significantly. New methods of growing and canning have been developed in Hawaii, resulting in the development of one of the most modern, efficient agricultural operations in the world.

Pineapple production has been a mainstay of Hawaii's economy ever since the harvesting of Dole's first crop in 1903. Production increased rapidly from the 1893 cases in 1903, reaching its peak of 30.8 million cases in 1957. Since then, production has leveled off at approximately 29 million cases annually.

The Pineapple Growers Association of Hawaii gives the following figures on production:

[blocks in formation]

The industry plays an important role in the Hawaiian economy. The processed value of pineapple in 1972 amounted to $137 million. The

industry provided employment for approximately 6,200 year-round workers who earn $42 million in annual wages, and another 18,000 seasonal workers who earn over $10 million per year. The industry purchased $32 million in supplies and services from local businesses. It paid $7.6 million in taxes to state and local governments (not including federal corporate income tax). $11.3 million was withheld from industry payrolls for state and federal income taxes.

III. SUBCOMMITTEE FINDINGS

THE PROBLEM

In 1950, Hawaii produced approximately 72 percent of the world pineapple production. Today it produces approximately 35 percent. Production levels have been steady at an average of 29 to 30 million cases per year for the last ten years. Hawaiian pineapple has been practically standing still while foreign operations have gained increasingly large shares of the growing world market.

Twenty years ago there were nine major pineapple companies operating in Hawaii. Today there are only three. Over the last two years a series of shocking announcements by the pineapple industry has forced Hawaii to consider the possibility that the industry may well be on its way out as a significant contributor to the state's economy.

On May 15, 1972, Stokely-Van Camp announced the closing of its Hawaiian Fruit Packers operation on Kauai by December 1973. One hundred and forty employees lost their jobs when Hawaiian Fruit Packers closed its doors. A plan for saving the cannery and thereby the plantation by forming a cooperative of mainland farmers was announced in January, 1974. Unfortunately it came too late.

A few days later, on May 20, 1973, the Dole Company, a subsidiary of Castle and Cooke, confirmed that it would take 4,500 acres of its 9,000 acre plantation on Oahu out of production. The remaining acreage would be devoted to fresh fruit production. Twenty-two people have been laid off from the Wahiawa plantation as a result of the conversion. The phase-out of 9,000 acres for canning on Oahu plus the additional acreage on Molokai when that operation closes down will result in the loss of 140 jobs at the Dole cannery at Oahu.

In October, 1973 Dole announced that operations on its 10,500 acre plantation on the Island of Molokai would cease by the end of 1975.

At 9:00 AM on January 23, 1973, the representative of the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union received a call from the Industrial Relations Director in the State of Hawaii for Del Monte. He was told that an announcement would be made that day that Del Monte would be closing down its 46-year-old, 6,100-acre pineapple plantation on Molokai by 1975.

The score-card on Molokai will include the loss of jobs now held by 520 year-round, regular employees supporting the villages of Maunaloa and Kualapuu with over 1,300 residents. Also lost will be jobs for 1,200 seasonal employees. In addition to the loss of pineapple payrolls totaling $5,500,000 on the island, Molokai will suffer the loss of untold thousands of dollars in local purchases by the companies, rentals from local people of 17,000 acres of land and a large portion of the trade in the village of Kaunakakai (population 1,070).

In "A Special Report on Pineapple in Hawaii," the Pineapple Growers Association has provided the following table:

Distribution of pineapple production by islands and companies

[blocks in formation]

The phase-out of pineapple operations as set forth above will have an impact on IIawaii measured not by a figure for unemployed industry workers but by the reverse multiplier effect of the loss of a large portion of an important industry. Thousands of people in Hawaii are dependent on the pineapple industry. The effect reaches further than the businesses that supply the industry and its employees. For example, it was brought to the Subcommittee's attention that the livestock industry, which accounts for $46 million of Hawaii's gross income, utilizes pineapple by-products as food concentrates and roughages. Dairy herds and feedlots would be hardpressed to find other nutritious and readily available feed sources if the pineapple industry were to discontinue or drastically cut back production.

THE CAUSES OF THE PROBLEM

The problems of the pineapple industry and those dependent upon it have aroused the attention of government at all levels of industry and the unions as well as public interest groups. Throughout this Subcommittee's investigation of the issues, several points have been made over and over again.

47-300-75- 2

« iepriekšējāTurpināt »