1 - American Memory

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Mr. MATSUNAGA. Our next witness, Mr. Chairman, is the publisher
of the Pacific Business News and chairman of the Chamber of Com-
merce of Hawaii Ad Hoc Committee on Uninterrupted Shipping. He
was founder of a citizens' organization known as STOP (Shipping
Tieups Over Permanently). I am privileged to present George Mason.
Mr. DiNGELL. Mr. Mason, we are certainly pleased to welcome you.
If you will identify yourself fully for the record to assist our reporter,
you may proceed.
STATEMEIIT OF GEORGE MASON, CHAIRMAN, AD HOC COMMITTEE
ON UNINTERRUPTED SHIPPING, CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF
HAWAII AND CHAIRMAN, STOP (SHIPPING TIEUPS OVER
PERMANENTLY)
Mr. MASON. Mr. Chairman, I am George Mason. I am here in the
capacity of chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on Uninterriipted
Shipping, Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, and chairman of STOP
(Shipping Tieups Over Permanently). I am president of Crossroads
Press, Inc., publishers of Pacific Business News and other publications.
Mr. Chairman, I am a small businessman and am here primarily to
represent the 13,000 small businesses in Hawaii (those with fewer
than 100 employees)—almost every one of whom feels helpless in the
face of frequent confrontations between employers and labor unions
2,500 miles from their place of business.
To illustrate how relatively helpless the vast majority of businesses
in Hawaii are, I submit the following data compiled by the Bureau
of the Census in March 1972 for the State of Hawaii:
ltD3
4 to 7
8 to 19
20 to 49
50 to 99
100 to 249
250 to 499
500 or more
Number of
employer Percent
Number o( employees firms of total
5,332 41.14
2,778 21.43
2,725 21.02
1,344 10.37
434 3.34
245 1.89
69 .53
32 .24
Total (222,207) 12,959 100.00
Note: 100 or more employees—346 firms (2.7 percent); 20 to 99 employees—1,778 firms (13.7 percent); 1 to 19 em-
ployees—10,835 firms (83.6 percent); 1 to 7 employees—8.110 firms (62.5 percent).
You will note, Mr. Chairman, that 62.5 percent of all employers
in Hawaii have from 1 to 7 employees and that only 346 (or 2.7 per-
cent) of all employers have 100 or more workers.
About one-third of all employers are in retailing. Many are mar-
ginal and unable to withstand serious dislocations such as those that
occur when shipping interruptions are threatened or underway.
Other than the immediate effects of imminent or actual shipping
tienps, there is an ever-present economic dislocation—one not easily
apparent on the surface. I am referring to the constant state of prepa-
ration for unexpected shipping interruptions that businesses of every
size are compelled to maintain.