WAHIAWA—The parking lot is spacious—and needs to be—to accommodate the constant flow of excited visitors to Dole Plantation. The first thing you see is a beautifully landscaped slope leading up to the large main building, the word “Dole” spelled out in colorful foliage against the green lawn. ILWU members are responsible for maintaining all of the grounds at Dole Plantation.
Inside the main building you are greeted by friendly workers who keep the store spotless, help you with any questions about the merchandise, ring you up at the register, or serve you at the snack bar. These gracious hosts are also ILWU members at Dole Plantation.
Inside the main building you are greeted by friendly workers who keep the store spotless, help you with any questions about the merchandise, ring you up at the register, or serve you at the snack bar. These gracious hosts are also ILWU members at Dole Plantation.
The former fruit stand now bills itself as “Hawaii’s Pineapple Experience,” and offers familyoriented attractions such as the “Pineapple Express,” a two-mile, twenty minute train tour, and the “Pineapple Garden Maze,” which up until 2001 was the largest maze in the world. When the ILWU urges its members to patronize union shops, we often think of buying union products, like The Honolulu Advertiser newspaper or staying at a union hotel, like the Hawaii Naniloa Resort. But Dole Plantation is also a union shop—one that you and your family might enjoy visiting one day soon! ◆
Unit Vice Chair Alex Torres meets with Business Agent Brandon-Bajo Daniel in the morning before the store opens to discuss union business.
Juan A. Garcia (left) recently became a fulltime employee after working at Dole Plantation for about two years. “If there is no union, there is no say in the workplace,” Garcia said. “A thread is only one [strand], but a rope is strong—when you have the union, you are not alone, you have strength.”
Norma Molina is employed as a utility worker at Dole Plantati
Sylvia Rara enjoys her work helping visitors at the snack counter.
Teena Galius, Sharon Lampitoc and Susan Alupay work at the cash registers.
Gina Stafford must prepare her work area before the visitor’s center store opens at 9:00 a.m.
In the kitchen with counter attendant Lorena Butella, floor assistant Elizabeth Dupio, who is unit chair and helped to organize Dole Plantation, and kitchen worker Tripina Deuz.
Benjamin Panag and Romeo Molina, landscapers at Dole Plantation.
Sales associate Marilyn Boyman works at the Pineapple Garden Maze. “I like having a contract and an organization that supports us in all we need to do,” said Boyman.
Gloria Nahinu is one of three garden attendants who act as tour gudes, educating visitors about tropical plants and flowers, teaching crafts like ti-leaf bracelet making, and demonstrating cultural activities like ukulele playing
