With another round of Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. workers set to leave Friday, the company held its second on-property job fair Thursday. Many workers said they are still trying to figure out the next step after HC&S, the only employer they’ve known for decades.
“I’m at the age where I’ve still got to find a place to work for 20 more years,” said Danton Akuna, a machine shop and factory maintenance supervisor who’s been at HC&S for 21 years. “Something will come. It always does.”
About 45 employers showed up, from Haleakala Solar to Goodfellow Bros. to local temp agencies. The first fair was geared toward the company’s whole range of workers, from nonskilled to skilled, said Dana Gusman, assistant manager of government and community relations for Alexander & Baldwin. Last week’s fair was focused more on those who were recently laid off or who would be leaving soon.
Vicki Shortell, who repairs computers as an applications systems specialist, has been in the information technology department for 28 years. She came to HC&S because “the truth is, I could wear jeans and tennis shoes to work,” she said, laughing.
Shortell hasn’t decided what she’ll do next, but said she’s considering online computer support, something she can do from home while helping to care for her 93-year-old mother-in-law.
“I’m glad there are so many jobs available,” she said. “A lot of young people are going to be in a lot worse shape than me. I just hope they can find positions. . . . The community’s been so great, coming out, supporting the workers here.”
Wesley Bissen has been a machinist for 35 years. He went through HC&S’ apprenticeship trade program and then began training other young workers. As a senior machinist, Bissen said it will be hard to leave the Puunene Mill, which has the second-largest machine shop in the state.
“I love my job,” Bissen said. “I love coming here early in the morning and meeting everybody in the parking lot. I love going to the shop and talking story. I’m not missing it because I’m still here. It’s probably going to take three days, four days, five days to realize that it’s gone. Unreal.”
Bissen said that he had already turned in his application and resume to Goodfellow Bros. “I know what I’m going to do,” he said. “I’m just taking my time getting there.”
Anne Torres of Maui Electric Co., one of the companies at the fair, wasn’t sure how many applications MECO had received, but said she’d used up about 150 brochures advertising MECO jobs. The company currently has four openings – for a lineman, an electrician, a machinist and a temporary meter reader. While not as large as the mill’s, MECO does have machine shops at the Kahului and Maalaea power plants, said Jerry Maniago, electrical maintenance supervisor.
Goodfellow Bros. also attracted a crowd of workers. Human Resources Manager Michelle Bruce estimated that the company had gotten nearly 75 applications during Thursday’s event. She said that Goodfellow keeps a “running list” of possible employees for open positions.
“We always can use good workers,” she said, adding that “some of these guys could probably fit in good” as project engineers.
On the lawn outside the front office, HC&S employees filled out applications and chatted with co-workers they’ve come to think of as family.
“We came in together. Our kids grew up together,” Akuna said. “I see some of these workers more than I see my kids. . . . We’re still going to see each other, just not as much.”
* Colleen Uechi can be reached at cuechi@mauinews.com.
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