They were responsible for weeding the sugar cane fields, stripping off the dry leaves for roughly only two-thirds compensation of what men were paid. The West Coast victories inspired and sowed the seed of a new unionism in Hawaii. On June 7th, 1909 the companies evicted the workers from their homes in Kahuku, 'Ewa and Waialua with only 24 hours notice. 76 were brought to trial and 60 were given four year jail sentences. On August 1st, 1938 over two hundred men and women belonging to several different labor unions in Hilo attempted to peacefully demonstrate against the arrival of the SS Waialeale in Hilo. Pineapple plantations began in the 1870s, with the first large-scale plantation established in 1885 on the island of Lanai. On June 14, 1900, via the Hawaii Organic Act, which brought US law to bear in the newly-annexed Territory of Hawaii, Abraham Lincoln put an end to this. Under this rule hundreds of workers were fined or jailed. Before the century had closed over 80,000 Japanese had been imported. In 1973, Fred Makino, was recommended posthumously by the newswriters of Hawaii for the Hawaii Newspaper Hall of Fame. Far better work day by day, Most Japanese immigrants were put to work chopping and weeding sugar cane on vast plantations, many of which were far larger than any single village in Japan. Kilohana guests today ride behind a circa-1948, 25-ton diesel engine in six passenger cars holding up to 144 people. As a result, they were able to launch a strike in 1946 that lasted 79 days. But when hostilities ended they formed a new organization called the Federation of Japanese Labor and began organizing on all islands. Grow my own daily food. The bonus system to be made a legal obligation rather than a matter of benevolence. Luna, the foreman or supervisors of the plantations, did not hesitate to wield their power with whips to discipline plantation workers for getting out of line. Venereal disease, tuberculosis and even measles, which in most white communities was no more than a passing childhood illness, took their toll in depopulating the kingdom. The ILWU lost membership on the plantations as machines took the place of man and as some agricultural operations, were closed down but this loss was offset by organizing other fields such as automotive repair shops and the hotel industry, especially on the neighbor islands. Union contracts protected workers from reprisals due to political activity. The ordinary workers got pay raises of approximately $270,000. In the days before commercial airline, nearly all passenger and light freight transport between the Hawaiian islands was operated by the Inter-Island Steamship Co. fleet of 4 ships. The English language press opposed the workers demands as did a Japanese paper that was pro-management. The police, armed with clubs and guns came to the "rescue. On Haller Nutt's Araby Plantation in 1843, the planter reported several slave deaths that resulted "from cruelty of overseer," including that of a man who was "beat to death when too sick to work" (Nutt, [1843- 1850], p. 205). Ua eha ke kua, kakahe ka hou, Two years after the strike a Department of Immigration report said, "The sugar growers have not entirely recovered from the scare given them by the strike. and would like to bring in to the islands large numbers of Filipinos or other cheap labor to create a surplus, so that.. they would be able to procure the necessary help without being obliged to pay any increase in wages." Although Hawaii today may no longer have a plantation economy and employers may not be as blatantly exploitive, we are constantly faced with threats and attempts to chip away at the core rights of employees in subtle, almost imperceptible, ways. The whaling industry was the mainstay of the island economy for about 40 years. The plantation owners relished the idea of cheap labor and intended to keep it that way. More than any other single event the 1946 sugar strike brought an end to Hawaii's paternalistic labor relations and ushered in a new era of participatory democracy both on the plantations and throughout Hawaii's political and social institutions. But these locals tended to die out within 20 years without ever fulfilling the goal of organizing the unorganized, in large part because of their failure to take in Orientals.20, The 1909 STRIKE: In the meantime the Labor Movement has continued to grow. Of 600 men who had arrived in the islands voluntarily, they sent back 100. The Old Sugar Mill, established in 1835 by Ladd & Co., is the site of the first sugar plantation. This was commonplace on the plantations. The weak-minded actually fall for this con. Meanwhile they used the press to plead their cause in the hope that public opinion would move the planters. The Library of Congress offers classroom materials and professional development to help teachers effectively use primary sources from the Library's vast digital collections in their teaching. In 1853, indigenous Hawaiians made up 97% of the islands' population. Labor throughout the entire United States came to new life as a result of President Roosevelt's "New Deal". It is estimated that between 1850 and 1900 about 46,000 Chinese came to Hawai'i. Immigrants in search of a better life and a way to support their families back home were willing to make the arduous journey to Hawaii and make significant sacrifices to improve the quality of life for their families.The immigrants, however, did not expect the tedious, back-breaking work of cutting and carrying sugar cane 10 hours a day, six days a week. The Higher Wage Association was wrecked. The Federationist, the official publication of the AFL, reported: For those contract laborers who found conditions unbearable and tried to run away, again the law permitted their employers "coercive force" to apprehend them, and their contracts on the plantation would be extended by double the period of time they had been away. The cry of "Whale ho!" And what of the sugar companies? As for the owner, the strike had cost them $2 million according to the estimate of strike leader Negoro. The Legislature convened in special session on August 6 to pass dock seizure laws and on August 10, the Governor seized Castle & Cooke Terminals and McCabe, Hamilton and Renny, the two largest companies, but the Union continued to picket and protested their contempt citations in court. These provisions were often used to put union leaders out of circulation in times of tension and industrial conflict. A noho hoi he pua mana no, By actively fighting racial and ethnic discrimination and by recruiting leaders from each group, the ILWU united sugarworkers like never before. Within a few years this new type of oil replaced whale oil for lamps and many other uses. Late in the 1950's the tourist industry began to pick up steam. As contract laborers their bodies were practically the property of the sugar planters, to be abused and even whipped with black snake whips. And then swiftly whaling came to an end. In the aftermath 101 Filipinos were arrested. Harry Kamoku was the model union leader. The term plantation can reference several different realities. However, when workers requested a reasonable pay increase to 25 cents a day, the plantation owners refused to honor their fair request. Far better work day by day, Similarly the skilled Caucasian workers of Hilo formed a Trade Federation in 1903, and soon Carpenters, Longshoremen, Painters and Teamsters had chartered locals there as well. This repression with penalties up to 10 years in prison did not stifle the discontent of the workers. They were met by a force of over seventy police officers who tear gassed, hosed and finally fired their riot guns into the crowd, hospitalizing fifty of the demonstrators. Meanwhile in the towns, especially Honolulu, a labor movement of sorts was beginning to stir. James Drummond Dole founded the Hawaiian Pineapple Company in 1901, and over the next 56 years built it into the world's largest fruit cannery. "So it's the only (Hawaii) ethnic group really defined by generation." They confidently transplanted their traditions to their new home. In the early years, the Hawaiian Pineapple Company was . (described as "Frank" in "Dreams from My Father"). Just as they had slandered the Chinese and the Hawaiian before that they now turned their attention to the Japanese. SUGAR: Of all the groups brought in for plantation labor, the largest was from Japan. About twenty six thousand sugar workers and their families, 76 thousand people in all, began the 79-day strike on September 1, 1946 and completely shut down 33 of the 34 sugar plantations in the islands. This was a pivotal event in Hawaiis labor history which eventually became a part of the fabric of our society today. WHALING: The Planters' journal said of them in 1888, "These people assume so readily the customs and habits of the country, that there does not exist the same prejudice against them that there is with the Chinese, while as laborers they seem to give as much satisfaction as any others. The first crop, called a "plant crop," takes 18-20 months to be ready for harvest. Japanese residences, Honolulu. Tens of thousands of plantation laborers were freed from contract slavery by the Organic Act. All but one of the 34 largest plantations were impacted. THE BIG FIVE: The Inter-Island Steamship Navigation Co. had since 1925 been controlled by Matson Navigation and Castle & Cooke. Though they did many good things, they did not pay the workers a decent living wage, or recognize their right to a voice in their own destiny. For years they had been paying workers unequal wages based on ethnic background. It soon became clear that it required a lot of manpower, and manpower was in short supply. More than 100,000 people lived and worked on the plantations equivalent to 20 percent of Hawaiis total population. UH Hawaiian Studies professors also wrote the initial versions of the Akaka Bill. They spent the next few years trying to get the U.S. Congress to relax the Chinese Exclusion Act so that they could bring in new Chinese. Typically, the bosses now became disillusioned with both Japanese and Filipino workers. "7 For a hundred years, the "special interests" of the planters would control unhindered, the laws of Hawaii as a Kingdom, a Republic and Territory. As early as 1901 eleven unions, mostly in the building trades, formed the first labor council called the Honolulu Federation of Trades. Housing conditions were improved. Pitting the ethnic groups against each other prevented the workforce from banding together to gain power and possibly start a revolt. . Here is a look at the way the labor movement used to talk about the Organic Act. On June 11th, the chief of police banned all public speeches for the duration of the strike. More 5 hours 25 minutes Free Cancellation From $118.00 No Photo No Photo Tour of North Shore & Sightseeing 3428 [1] The plantation town of Koloa, was established adjacent to the mill. By the 1930s, Japanese immigrants, their children, and grandchildren had set down deep roots in Hawaii, and inhabited communities that were much older and more firmly established than those of their compatriots on the mainland. Most Wahiawa pineapples are sold fresh. The strike of 1934 in particular finally established the right of a bona fide union to exist on the waterfront, and the lesson wasn't lost on their Hawaiian brothers. In 1911, the American writer, Ray Stannard Baker, said, "I have rarely visited any place where there was as much charity and as little democracy as in Hawaii. My back ached, my sweat poured, The plantation owners tried to keep labor from organizing by segregating workers into ethnic camps. The term plantation arose as settlements in the southern United States, originally linked with colonial expansion, came to revolve around the production of agriculture.The word plantation first appeared in English in the 15th century. On the contrary, they made a decision amongst themselves not to deal with the workers representatives and they forbade any individual plantation manager from coming to an agreement with the workers. "14 The year of 1900 found the workers utilizing their new freedom in a rash of strikes. He wrote: JAPANESE IMMIGRATION: This system was similar to the plantation slavery system that existed in other parts of the world, such as the Caribbean. The Hawaiian Star reported the Spreckelsville strike of June 20, 1900, in the following manner: " . Hawaii was the last place in the US to abolish indentured servitude. The earliest strike on record was by the Hawaiian laborers on Kloa Plantation in 1841. The Black population is mostly concentrated in the Greater Honolulu area, especially near military installations. In 1966 the Hawai'i Locals of the AFL-CIO joined together in a State Federation. Hawaiis sugar plantation workers toiled for little pay and zero benefits. Their work lives were subject to the vagaries of political machinations. It was from these events that the unions were recognized as a formidable force in leveling the playing field and as a means to address social, political and economic injustice. Slave breeding was the attempt by a slave-owner to increase the reproduction of his slaves for profit. By 1923, their numbers had dwindled to 16%, and the largest percentage of Hawaii's population was Japanese. How do we ensure that these hard-earned gains will be handed down to not only our children but also our grandchildren, and great-grandchildren? Instead, they stepped up their anti-Japanese propaganda and imported more Filipino laborers. It had no relation to the men on trial but it whipped up public feeling against them and against the strike. Effect of Labor Costs By 1990, Hawaii's share of the world market had shrunk to 10 percent, he said, citing labor costs: a picker here makes as much as $8.23 an hour, compared with $6 a day in. There, and in Kakaako and Moili'ili, makeshift housing was established where 5,000 adults and many children lived, slept and were fed. Money to lose. The islands were governed as an oligarchy, not a democracy, and the Japanese immigrants struggled to make lives for themselves in a land controlled almost exclusively by large commercial interests. Poho, Poho. Normally a foe of racism and economic servitude, he accepted entirely the plantation sentiment that the Chinese in Hawaii were the dregs of their society. And remained a poor man. For many Japanese immigrants, most of whom had worked their own family farms back home, the relentless toil and impersonal scale of industrial agriculture was unbearable, and thousands fled to the mainland before their contracts were up. It wasnt until the 1968 Constitutional Convention that convention delegates made a strong statement and pushed for public employees to have a right to engage in collective bargaining. They reminded the Hawaii Sugar Planters' Association that the established wage of $20 to $24 a month was not enough to pay for the barest necessities of life. Suddenly, the Chinese, whom they had reviled several generations back, were considered a desirable element. The struggle for justice in the workplace has been a consistent theme in our islands since the sugar plantation era began in the 1800s. Inter-Island Steamship Strike & The Hilo Massacre Coinciding with the period of the greatest activity of the missionaries, a new industry entered the Hawaiian scene. These were not strikes in the traditional sense. The Hawaiian sugar industry expanded to meet these needs and so the supply of plantation laborers had to be increased as well. This listing, a plantation-era home on Old Halaula Mill Rd in Kohala shows typical single wall construction and intact details. As a result, US laws prohibiting contracts of indentured servitude replaced the 1850 Masters and Servants Act which had been in effect under the Hawaiian Kingdom and Hawaii Republic. At first their coming was hailed as most satisfactory. In several places the Japanese went on strike to enforce their demand on the planters who were daily violating a US law in keeping them under servitude. Instead of practicing their traditional skills, farming, fishing, canoe-building, net-making, painting kau`ula tapas, etc., Hawaiians had become "mere vagabonds": THE GREAT MAHELE: But the ILWU had organizers from the Marine Cooks and Stewards union on board the ships signing up the Filipinos who were warmly received into the union as soon as they arrived. The Waimanalo workers did not walk off their jobs but gave financial aid as did the workers on neighboring islands. Growing sugarcane. Hawaii was the first U.S. possession to become a major destination for immigrants from Japan, and it was profoundly transformed by the Japanese presence. By 1870, Samuel Kamakau would complain that the Hawaiian people were destitute; their clothing and provisions imported. Now President, thanks in part to early-money support from Hawaii Democrats, Obama is pledged to sign the Akaka Bill if it somehow reaches his desk. As to Waikiki, I first learned about the rape of the land during a visit to the lookout point up on Tantalus. Fagel and nine other strike leaders were arrested, charged with kidnapping a worker. There came a day in 1909 when the racist tactics of the plantation owners finally backfired on them. Military rule for labor meant: The 1946 Sugar Strike Such men were almost always of a different nationality from those they supervised. Finding new found freedom, thousands of plantation workers walked off their jobs. On June 14, 1900 Hawaii became a territory of the United States. Strikebreakers were hired from other ethnic groups, thus using the familiar "divide and rule" technique. The 171 day strike challenged the colonial wage pattern whereby Hawaii workers received significantly lower pay than their West Coast counterparts even though they were working for the same company and doing the same work. 200 Years of Influence and Counting. The next crop, called the "first ratoon," takes another 15 months. Lee, advised the planters in these words: MASTERS AND SERVANTS (Na Haku A Me Na Kauwa): Sugar cane plantations began in the early 1800s, with the first large-scale plantation established in 1835 on the island of Maui. They were forbidden to leave the plantations in the evening and had to be in bed by 8:30 p.m. Workers were also subjected to a law called the Master and Servants Act of 1850. 5. These were not just of plantation labor. It wiped out three-fourths of the native Hawaiians. Thirty-four sugar plantations once thrived in Hawaii. This paper was a case study for Richard Eaton's World History: Slavery seminar at the University of Arizona. The plantation features the world's largest maze, grown entirely out of Hawaiian plants. In the 1880s, Hawaii was still decades away from becoming a state, and would not officially become a U.S. territory until 1900. Sugar cane had long been an important crop planted by the Hawaiians of old. There was a demand for fresh fruit, cattle, white potatoes and sugar. taken. June 14, 1900: The Abolition of Slavery in Hawaii. The two organizations established contact. Under the provisions of this law, enacted just a few weeks after the founding of the Royal Hawaiian Agricultural Society, two different forms of labor contracts were legalized, apprenticeships and indentured service. The people picked up their few belongings and families by the hundreds, by the thousands, began the trek into Honolulu. Despite the crime inside the above towns, Hawaii is many of the most secure. Immediately the power structure of the islands swung into action again st the workers. Some owners paid the ethnic groups different wages to sow discord and distrust. Again workers were turned out of their homes. [see Pa'a Hui Unions] In 1973 the Federation included 43 local unions with a total membership in excess of 50,000. And there was close to another million and a half acres that were considered government lands.4 The Kingdom set up a Bureau of Immigration to assist the planters as more and more Chinese were brought in, this time for 5 year contracts at $4. After 8 months, the strike disintegrated, illustrating once again that racial unionism was doomed to failure. Yet, with the native Hawaiian population declining because of diseases brought by foreigners, sugar plantation owners needed to import people from other countries to work on their plantations. They and their families, in the thousands, left Hawaii and went to the Mainland or returned to their homelands or, in some cases, remained in the islands but undertook new occupations. Plantation-era Hawaii was a society unlike any that could be found in the United States, and the Japanese immigrant experience there was . . Hawaii later became. The Maui Planters' Association subsequently canceled all contracts, thus ending the strikes at most places. 5. However they worked independently of each other. A permanent result of these struggles can be seen in the way that local unions in Hawai'i are all state-wide rather than city or county based. In the years that followed the Labor Movement was able to win through legislative action, many benefits and protections for its membership and for working people generally: Pre-Paid Health Care, Temporary Disability Insurance, Prevailing Wage laws, improved minimum wage rates, consumer protection, and no-fault insurance to name only a few. In 1848 the king was persuaded to apply yet another force to the already rapidly evolving Hawaiian way of life. "8 Having observed the operations of plantations throughout the south and in California, Clemens knew exactly how low the "coolie" wages were by comparison and expected the rest of the country to soon follow the example of the Hawaii planters. They preferred to work for themselves and take care of their families by fishing and farming. The Great Dock Strike of 1949 History holds valuable lessons to address todays workplace challenges and constant changes. In December of 1919 the Japanese Federation politely submitted their requests. All for nothing. The maze covers 137,194 square feet (12,746 m 2) and paths are 13,001 feet (3,963 m) long. Industrial production of sugar began at Kloa Plantation on Kauai in 1840. Though they were only asking for twenty-five cents a day, with no actual union organization the workers lost this strike just as so many others were destined to suffer in the years ahead. Hawaii Plantation Slavery. The Organic Act, bringing US law to bear in the newly-annexed Territory of Hawaii took effect 111 years ago--June 14, 1900. 2, p. 8. E noho no e hana ma ka la, Hawaii's plantation slavery system was created in the early 1800s by sugarcane plantation owners in order to inexpensively staff their plantations. An advance of $6 was made in China to be refunded in small installments. The only Labor union, in the modern sense of the term, that was formed before annexation was the Typographical Union. But there was no written contract signed. Although Hawaii never had slavery, the sugar plantations were based on cheap imported labor from Maderia, and many parts of Asia. After trying federal mediation, the ILWU proposed submission of the issues to arbitration. There were small nuisance strikes in 1933 that made no headway and involved mostly Filipinos. Many were returned World War II veterans whose parents had been plantation laborers. The labor contracts became illegal because they violated the U.S. Constitution which prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude. All for nothing. In the 1940s the perception of working in Hawaii became glorya (glory) and so more Filipinos sought to stay in Hawaii. Sugar was becoming a big business in Hawaii, with increasingly favorable world market conditions. A Commissioner of Labor Statistics said, "Plantations view laborers primarily as instrument of production. The advent of statehood in 1959 and the introduction of the giant jet airplanes accelerated the growth of the visitor industry. Spying and infiltration of the strikers ranks was acknowledged by Jack Butler, executive head of the HSPA.27 In short, it wreaked havoc on the traditional values and beliefs of the Hawaiian culture. And remained a poor man. but the interpreter was beaten and very roughly handled for a time, finally getting away with many bruises and injuries. EARLY STRIKES: In the years following the 1909 strike, the employers did two things to ward off future stoppages. This is considerably less than 1 acre per person. We must each, in our way, confront the deeper questions: What can we do to ensure that the hard-won freedoms that we have been entrusted with are not stripped away from the bloody hands who fought for them? The years of the 1930s were the years of a world wide economic depression. Just go on being a poor man. From 1944 to 1946 membership rose from 900 to 28,000 as one by one plantation after plantation voted overwhelmingly for the union. rules in face-to-face encounters with their slaves. The President of the Agricultural Society, Judge Wm. One year after the so-called "Communist conspiracy" trials, the newly won political rights of the working people asserted itself in a dramatic way. In 1961 President John F. Kennedy issued an Executive Order which recognized the right of Federal workers to organize for the purpose of collective bargaining. This essay is based on secondary scholarship and seeks to introduce the reader to the issue of labor on sugar plantations in nineteenth-century Hawaii while highlighting the similarities and differences between slavery and indentured labor. For the harvest, workers walk through the pineapple rows, dressed in thick gloves and clothing to protect them from the spiky bromeliad leaves. Sugar and pineapple could dominate the economic, social and. The whales, like the native Hawaiians, were being reduced in population because of the hunters. Maternity leave with pay for women two weeks before and six weeks after childbirth. Forging Ahead It was a reverse Tower of Babel experience. As expected, within a few years the sugar agricultural interests, mostly haole, had obtained leases or outright possession of a major portion of the best cane land. Even the famous American novelist Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, while visiting the islands in 1866 was taken in by the planters' logic. Shortly thereafter he was paroled on condition that he leave the Territory.29 By 1968 unions were so thoroughly accepted as a part of the Hawaiian scene that it created no furor when unions in the public sector of the economy asked that the right of collective bargaining by public employees be written into the State Constitution.
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