1 - American Memory

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Consequently all four Members of Hawaii's congressional delegation
have searched for a workable solution to this problem. We have with
us this morning Mrs. Mink, to my right, a cosponsor of the measure,
Mr. Won Pat, a cosponsor, and Senator Fong, who is a sponsor of a
similar measure in the Senate. Our joint suggestions for voluntary
agreements between management and labor for the protection of
Hawaii have not been accepted. It is clear to us that legislation is the
only way to obtain that protection.
Hawaii's situation is unique. No other State can be crippled so
swiftly and so completely by a severing of its ocean shipping lifeline.
The entire Hawaii congressional delegation has therefore drafted and
introduced legislation which responds to Hawaii's unique needs. In
doing so, we have taken pains to ask protection for Hawaii only
against dangers Hawaii has no powere to deal with alone. The bill in
the House in H.K. 7189. A similar bill has been introduced in the Sen-
ate. Both bills would exempt Hawaii and the U.S. Pacific Islands from
any west coast dock or shipping tieup for the firat 160 days of such a
tieup.
H.R. 7189 is not intended to plow virgin ground, for it follows a
clear precedent: both management and Tabor have long voluntarily
exempted military cargo from a strike or lockout for indefinite
periods.
Furthermore, the bill would not interfere with the normal process
of free collective bargaining. The exemption provided in the bill would
affect only about 3 percent of the total man-hours involved in the oper-
ation of the west coast docks. This means that neither labor nor man-
agement involved in shipping dispute would be perceptibly affected in
the bargaining process by exempting Hawaii and the Pacific Islands,
which H.R. 7189 proposes to do.
The parties to the dispute which resulted in the 134-day stoppage
in 1971-72 are now negotiating a new contract. The existing one ex-
pires in less than 4 weeks. Even if a strike is averted, it appears that
the new contract will be for a relatively short term. Other maritime
miion contracts will soon Ije expiring. In some cases, a few dozen men
could virtually sever the lifeline to 800,000 Americans living in
Hawaii. For too long, Hawaii's citizens have lived through tieups, or
the threat of tieups, over which they have no control.
The people of Hawaii are united behind H.R. 7189. Today's wit-
nesses, and the statements of support which the subcommittee will be
receiving, will provide ample evidence of this. I urge this distin-
guished subcommittee to respond to an urgent necessity and act speed-
ily to approve H.R. 7189.
Thank you verj' much for your kind consideration. I would now
like to yield to my cosponsor, Mrs. Mink.
Mr. JARMAN. The committee would be pleased to hear you.
STATEMENT OF HON. PATSY T. MINK
Mrs. MINK. Thank you very much. I would like to join and under-
score the testimony just presented by niy colleague. Congressman
Matsunaga, and to most especially state my own personal apprecia-
tion for your providing us this opportunity to be heard on what is a