Primary Business Agent Jose Miramontes (far right) goes over the contract with Polynesian Adventure Tours members.

Welcome to the union, Polynesian Adventure Tours. Unit 4416 - Polynesian Adventure Tours, or “PolyAd” as the workers call it, is the third largest tour bus company in Hawaii. Organizing campaigns are always tough, but the Oahu drivers at PolyAd persisted, and on December 22, 2016, their first union contracts were distributed.

“This contract we got was a huge blessing. Everybody was watching us because they all thought it was impossible for a transportation tour company to have a union, just impossible. Us getting the union was a shock to the industry. I’ve seen it all from 1990 when I started ‘til now, and it took THIS long for something major to happen. Something had to break. We broke that wall down,” said Rodney “Roddy” Akau, a member of the negotiating committee and driver with PolyAd for 27 years.

The ILWU family 
The Oahu workers got off to a promising start when other ILWU members encouraged them to start organizing. ILWU members from both Hawaii and the mainland broached the appeal of the union to different PolyAd workers.

In the first instance, Local 142 member Henry Kreutz brought up the ILWU to a PolyAd driver in a conversation that started as small talk. They discussed the possibility of PolyAd unionizing and Kreutz asked ILWU organizers to call the driver.

Then, in April 2015, the ILWU connected with PolyAd workers again, this time in the form of Luke Hollingsworth, a member from Local 13, who was on vacation in Hawaii from Southern California. Hollingsworth was enjoying a PolyAd bus tour when he started talking to his driver about the ILWU. That driver happened to be Robert Lemafa, someone who had heard the first whispers of unionizing from the time Kreutz brought it up, and wanted to continue the conversation. Lemafa went on to lead the negotiating committee as Unit Chair for a term.

“So we called the ILWU number back. We arranged to check this thing out,” said Cody Sula, a driver with PolyAd for four years. “We met with ILWU organizers under Moanalua Bridge late one night all sketchy just to see what it was all about,” he continued.

Unit 4416 - Polynesian Adventure Tours driver Rodney Akau transports ILWU members to the State Capitol on opening day at the state legislature, January 18, 2018. Rodney was a member of the union negotiating committee that bargained the drivers’ first union contract.

Organizing despite challenges 
The process of organizing to win union recognition can be challenging. Some organizing meetings were held as late as nine or ten at night to accommodate the workers’ demanding schedules. Workers do not know their driving schedule until the day before, so the drivers kept in touch with the help of a shared private Facebook page to determine possible meeting times. Even drivers who would need to start a new work day at four the next morning for a sunrise route would attend meetings scheduled for late nights.

“What I really admired about this group was their dedication to organizing,” said International Representative Tracy Takano. “They stuck together and even got their families on board. I remember one time they organized a picnic for the workers’ families so their loved ones could understand and support what they were spending all that time away from home struggling for.”

“It was hard and a lot of stress, especially in the first months. But there were too many unfair things going on,” said Akau. “People would get upset, people get let go and fired for nothing and everybody would see the unfairness. Some don’t want to make trouble or cause waves, but for me I gotta speak up to feel right with myself, if not how can I help other people?”

“I just didn’t feel valued by the company,” said Peter Terry, Chair of the recently-elected Unit Executive Board. “I remember there was a flash flood, and I asked if I could stop the tour; the weather was so bad. No one was even there to answer the radio. When you don’t feel valued, of course there will be low morale.”

A commitment to change 
The union functions as a way for workers to speak up when it is difficult to have a voice otherwise.

Banner Fanene noticed that “all was not well with this company,” in November 2015 when he started as a new employee. “The most alarming and sad thing that I learned was that some of PolyAd’s best drivers and longtime employees were leaving to other jobs. Based on that alone, I felt that changes were absolutely necessary. I did not know everything about the union, but I knew that the union was change. And that’s why I supported it,” said Fanene.

Persistence pays off 
It was important for the workers to stick together and show their support for the union through not only the organizing process but the bargaining process as well. Akau took a philosophical view to negotiating. “My job is a spiritual practice because I work with people, I work with life and death driving a 45-foot machine that can just run you over. So, I got involved because I saw nobody’s exempt from the laws of cause and effect. I don’t care if you’re a supervisor or not. It’s a matter of doing the right thing. Doing it no matter what ‘cause it’s going to come back to you. We made sure this didn’t go on longer than a year. It had to happen and I’m glad it happened in this amount of time,” said Akau.

During negotiations, workers were also at the mercy of external forces like company ownership changing hands. “When PolyAd was bargaining, they were being sold to Roberts, but now they are not. Now our workers are getting four to five dollars more per hour, and we have parity with other bus companies. We shook up the industry,” said Oahu Division Director Michael Yamaguchi.

“Before we got the union contract, we had things like guys who worked 34 years at the company getting paid less than new hires. Now we have more protection and we have rights,” said Unit Executive Board First-Vice Chair Joyce “Lehua” Fua.

The company is now looking for more drivers and will pay for their training. All new drivers will of course be union, too. Business Agent Paris Fernandez said, “I’m excited to have Polynesian Adventure Tours as part of the ILWU family. I look forward to working with the unit and company on any challenges and issues we can solve.”

“There have been more in attendance at union meetings. To me this is a good sign,” said Banner Fanene, Unit Secretary, far left. (L-r) Unit 4416 - Polynesian Adventure Tours Executive Board members: Fanene, Joyce Fua, Peter Terry, Wallace “Kimo” Ayau III, and Faavevela Tuigamala.