However, a look at the voting records on six issues supported by the ILWU reveals a big difference in how Republicans and Democrats in the State Legislature look at these worker friendly programs.

The six issues were: 1) Protecting Workers Compensation; 2) Increasing the Minimum Wage; 3) Allowing the use of sick leave for Family Leave; 4) Providing workers with a 30 minute Meal Break; 5) Requiring stores to post a sign to identify previously frozen goods; and 6) Disclosing information about employers whose employees are on Public Medical assistance. (see box below for more detail.)

Very bad on worker issues 
The Lingle Administration opposed all six bills and may veto some of them (she has until the end of June 2005 to notify the Legislature of an intent to veto). Lingle scores a zero on workers’ issues

Following the party line set by Governor Lingle, Republicans in the House and Senate also voted against working people.

In the Senate, Sam Slom (District 8 - East Oahu) and Bob Hogue (District 24) had the worst record, voting against all six bills. The remaining three Republicans—Fred Hemmings (District 25), Gordon Trimble (District 12), and Paul Whalen (District 3) voted against five of the six bills. The average score for Senate Republicans was a very low 10% in support of worker issues and 90% against workers.

In the House of Representatives, Colleen Meyer (District 47) had the worst record of the Republicans, voting against working families on all bills. Mark Moses (District 40), Kymberly Pine (District 43), Bud Stonebraker (District 17), and Lynn Finnegan (District 32) voted against workers four times.

Corinne Ching (District 27), Galen Fox (District 23), Cynthia Thielen (District 50), and Barbara Marumoto (District 19) voted against three of the worker issues. Chris Halford (District 11) voted against two labor bills. Halford is the only Republican endorsed by the ILWU.

The average Republican score in the House was a low 40 percent for working people.

The voting record on these six issues shows a clear difference between Democrats and Republicans on issues important to working people.

Good on worker issues 
On the other hand, Democrats in the House and Senate sided most often with working people. The forty-two Democratic members of the House had a 99% score in favor of working people. There was only one vote cast against the six issues important to union members. Cindy Evans (District 7) voted against the Meal Break bill with Jon Karamatsu, Alex Sonson, and Kyle Yamashita voting “yes” with reservations. The Senate had a 97% vote in favor of working people. David Ige (District 17) voted against minimum wage and family leave and Norman Sakamoto (District 15) voted against family leave and meal breaks. ◆