Evening star., 1949-09-15
Governor Of Hawaii
Presents New Plan
For Dock Strike End
BY The Assoeioisd Press

BY fhe Associated Press
HONOLULU, Sept. 15.-Hawaii's
Governor tossed a new peace pro-
posal into the islands tangled
138-day CIO dock strike today.
His formula: Boost wages IA cents
an hour. resume work. set up a
new contract.
Gov, Ingram M. Stainback first
put the proposal up to the strik-
| ing International Longshoremen's
and Warehousemen's Union. Then
he laid it out for Hawaii's seven
struck stevedoring firms. Both
sides said they will consider it.
A basic wage of $1.54 an hour
was the Governors suggestion.
This is the same pay recommended
by his Fact-Finding Board in June
The employers accepted it then.
The Union rejected it.
Strike Started May 1.
The ILWU's 1000 stevedores
struck May /. They wanted to
increase their $1.40 an hour to
SLIP. Their figure has been scaled
down since, but never on terms
the employers would accept
Now the Governor urges: Take
IA cents. Make the docks hum
again as quickly as possible. Then
sit down at a bargaining table
with the employers right away.
There negotiate a new two-year
contract and make it effective
next April /.
Just how the new proposal came
about, no one would say. Even
the Governor said he couldn't re-
call for sure.
It's roots go back to a plan
drafted by two maritime unions
Tuesday. They are the CIO Cooks
and Stewards and the Independent
Marine Firemen. Both have given
solid support to the longshoremen.
But both want to see ships sailing
again.
Change in Law Sought.
They suggested $1.54 an hour.
But they proposed amending the
territory's new dock seizure law
which has put the Government
in the stevedoring business.
Change the law, they said, to
make the pay s1.54 instead of
$1.40 and hire the strikers.
| The two maritime unions sub
mitted this proposal to Gov.
Stainback and asked the terri
tory to sponsor a permanent set
tlement. ~
The Governor took it from
there. He called in ILWU Lead
ers Henry Schmidt and Jack Ka-
wano. Originally, he planned to
relay the maritime unions plan
to them, then do the same to
the employers.
The three of them began talk
ing it out, Gov. Stainback said.
They agreed the amendment idea
was too complicated. Pretty soon
they got it stripped down to go
back to work for $1.54 and ne
gotiate a new contract.
No~n<;,forc, Da<urc Axuo;&oS
The Governor said he WASH t
sure whether he or Schmidt first
expressed it in those terms. Any
way, Gov. Stainback made it into
a proposal to them. Later he did
the same to Philip Maxwell. vice
president of the Hawaii Employ
ers' Council.
. Mr.. Maxwell said probably
there would be no employer ac-
ton until their negotiating COM
mittee returns from New York,
about Monday. An attempt to
settle the strike there with Cyrus
S. Ching, director of the United
states MediaClOn Service collapsed. !.
The first of 10 freighterS sched-
uled to arrive in Hawaii in the
next 10 days started loading pine
apple and general cargo at
Honolulu yesterday. The Isthm-
ian Lines Meredith Victory is
being worked by Government
stevedores.
Nine more ships are due in
from the Atlantic and Gulf coasts
and the Orient with general
cargo. They are scheduled to take
sugar and pineapple to East and
Gulf coast ports. All these ships
and Waterman Lines.