A tentative agreement may end the four day strike that left businesses and residents of Ewa Beach scrambling to make due without power last Friday after Hawaiian Electric workers walked off the job in the wake of a major windstorm.
State Rep. Kimberly Pine (R, Ewa Beach-Iroquois Point) said IBEW Local 1260 workers should be “ashamed of themselves” for their actions. “I find this completely unacceptable and selfish to walk off during a crisis in my community,” Pine said. “There is a time and a place to negotiate salary, and now is not the time. They have an obligation to help people first.”
Details were not released of the tentative agreement reached Monday by a federal mediator between HECO and IBEW local 1260. The union had previously rejected a contract proposal that would have raised the retirement age from 60 to 62 and created a second pay tier for new employees. The union claims Friday’s walkout was not triggered by the windstorm. Power was eventually restored by managers and outside contractors.
