The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-08-13

Rilnnm OtuCe uoAQ III E
 anywhere from couple of dozen to couple of hundred.
 Durham, young lawyer of 35, went to Honolulu from San Fran cisco a few years ago as an inspec- tor for the wages and hours division of the department, but when he got there the department started shoot ing other problems at him. Before he knew it, he was representing not only the wages and hours division, the child labor division, and the conciliation service, but he was also administering the Walsh -Healy act covering construction projects for Army and Navy expansion, and starting an apprentice training pro- gram for defense industries.
 The interesting thing about MT. Durham is he seems to have won the confidence of both the employ CTS and employees of the islands in- dustries, and in manner which shows what can be done in admin iStering these new labor laws, in seeing that everybody gets a square deal.
 Even Samuel Wilder King, the Republican delegate from Hawaii to Congress since 1885, admits that Durham's management of these controversial matters has been well done.
 ORGANIZERS FOLLOW UP
 King points out that while the general impression has been that the big estates in Hawaii have been exploiters of labor, the opposite has been true because the constant shortage of labor on the islands has necessitated the importation of la bor from the mainland. That has made it necessary to pay bonuses in many cases, and has meant im- portation of labor organizers who have done what labor organizers usually do, even among the polygot population of Hawaiians, Japanese, Chinese, Filipinos, Portuguese, and mainlanders.
 The influx of more skilled labor CTS from the mainland for new Army and Naval base construction, housing projects and public build- ings work meant there were con- flicting rates of pay and working conditions on Army and Navy jobs and considerable confusion all around. Even island paradiseS seem to have labor troubles.
 There were five strikes and 109 reported violations of labor laws among apparel manufacturers, curio shops, food processors, perfumers, wholesale houses, transport lines, construction companies, and so on. Only the companies which were in interstate commerce-that is, busl- ness with the mainland-or on gov- ernment jobs were affected. Purely inter- island business went on as usual. One New York apparel man who thought he could move his fac tory to the islands and employ cheap native labor in the manu- facture of Hawaiian souvenirs found out differently.
 NO FUSS OR HURRY
 Getting back to MT. Durham, his method of handling these situations was. to go quietly to the employers and explain the laws, then help set up working conditions that brought operations within the scope of the labor statutes as to minimum wages, overtime provisions and hours. More than 5000 individuals got nearly $160O000 in extra pay, but the pulp licity on the awards and settlement of the cases was kept at mini mum. Nobody had any chances to crow about great victories or de- feats.
 Longshoremen's and ~stevedores' disputes gave most trouble and the biggest feather in the Durham Ha- waiian cap was the working out, with a Maritime Labo Board media tor, of what is now referred to by Delegate King as a model stevedore labor contract for the Castle & Cooke Terminals, Ltd, one of the biggest factors in Hawaiian indus try
 Under the terms Of th1c contract, for the first time under the Amer ican flag, if not for the first time in the world, steyedores are given a guaranteed 40 hours of work week, year in and year out, whether work is available or not. The way this worked out, Honolulu stevedores re- ceived a guaranteed average wage of $2140 year in 1940, and all un- certainty as to employment was ended.
 The company, for its part, though it assumed an additional liability of $100,00O a year, found that by regu- lar employment it could speed the turn-around time for loading and unloading ships, and so made sav- ing. And the company now boasts, according to Delegate King, that it has labor relations which by com- parison make the Hormel, Num- Bush, and other guaranteed employ ment plans look reactionary.