Hawaiian Electric Co. and an influential labor union got into a high-profile political fight Thursday, exchanging accusations that the union was engaged in a “shakedown” and that the utility was trying to soak ratepayers with a new fee.

The unusually bold accusations came after the Hawaiʻi Regional Council of Carpenters launched a media campaign opposing legislation that HECO has proposed to help shore up the beleaguered company’s credit rating. 

The carpenters throughout the current legislative session have opposed measures to help HECO raise money to address future wildfires by imposing a new fee on customers, which the utility could then issue bonds against. The measure also would limit liability the company could face from a future wildfire.

The union said the measure would hurt working people who already pay the nation’s highest electricity rates.

The carpenters’ opposition reached a crescendo on Thursday when the prominent political consulting firm Strategies 360 sent news media the results of a union-sponsored poll that found the public opposed HECO’s proposal by a 3-to-1 margin.

HECO immediately shot back on Thursday, questioning the validity of the poll and the carpenters’ motive for releasing it.

Jim Kelly, HECO’s vice president for government and community relations and corporate communications, said the union had previously threatened to undermine HECO’s effort to rehabilitate itself financially unless the company agreed to enter a 20-year project labor agreement with the union. 

“It’s a shakedown. I don’t know what else you call it.”

Jim Kelly, HECO’s vice president for government and community relations and corporate communications

HECO currently has a contract with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which represents 1,200 of the company’s workers, Kelly said. 

“It’s a shakedown. I don’t know what else you call it,” Kelly said. “When somebody says, ‘You sign this paper now or bad things are going to happen to your company. … We’re going to make sure your legislation doesn’t pass.’ If that’s not a shakedown, I don’t know what it is.”

Kelly added, “They’re bullies. There’s a long history in Hawaiʻi politics of how they played dirty.”

Ron Taketa, executive secretary-treasurer of the union, denied engaging in a shakedown. 

“That’s simply not true,” he said.

The carpenters for years have sought a labor agreement covering work traditionally done by carpenters, he said, to “ensure local workers had access to safe, reliable jobs.”  

“Our campaign isn’t about a contract — it’s about accountability,” he said. “HECO is asking families to pay more while shielding itself from wildfire liability and rewarding executives. That’s wrong, and we’re calling it out — plain and simple.”

Despite a terrible 2024 in which HECO’s parent company posted a $1.4 billion net loss, the company’s board awarded big raises to top executives, including Hawaiian Electric Industries’ president and chief executive, Scott Seu, and HECO’s chief executive, Shelee Kimura.

In a note to employees sent out Thursday, Seu and Kimura both said they would return their incentive pay for the year. Kelly said the note was drafted earlier this week and sent out before the carpenters’ news release.

The carpenters union has made headlines as a political player for years. The union spent more than $3 million to help Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell defeat former Gov. Ben Cayetano, whose campaign for mayor focused on stopping the Honolulu rail project that was strongly supported by the union.

The union’s political action committee, Be Change Now, spent over $1 million to help Green defeat now-U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda in the lieutenant governor’s race in 2018 and spent $578,300 on Green’s successful bid for governor in 2022. 

Andy Winer, a political adviser to Green who now works for Strategies 360, previously had a union affiliate as a political client. Brooke Wilson, who was a lobbyist for the carpenters’ union, has been Green’s chief of staff since he was elected lieutenant governor. 

“This is like a clash of the titans.”

Colin Moore, University of Hawaiʻi Economic Research Organization

The attack by the carpenters comes as HECO and its parent Hawaiian Electric Industries are reeling following the August 2023 wildfire that destroyed much of Lahaina and killed 102 people. The company has agreed to pay $1.9 billion to settle hundreds of lawsuits blaming it for the fire. Green has taken credit for helping negotiate the settlement, which likely helped save the company from bankruptcy.

Colin Moore, a political scientist with the University of Hawaiʻi Economic Research Organization, said it was unusual to see two of Hawaiʻi’s most powerful institutions brawling publicly.

“This is like a clash of the titans situation where you have the most powerful union going against the public utility,” he said. He amended his statement to note the clashing titans were often disliked publicly, making the dustup like one between “Godzilla and the bogeyman.” 

Moore also questioned whether a poll could effectively capture public opinion about something as complex as utility securitization, which is widely used to raise money more cheaply than traditional means.

“It is not an issue that I would recommend polling on,” he said.

Leroy Chincio Jr., business manager and financial secretary of the IBEW Local 1260, accused the carpenters of trying to poach work for which electric utility workers have the expertise. 

“It’s just totally and utterly bullshit,” he said. “We’ve been the exclusive bargaining agent for Hawaiian Electric for 82 years, and we’ve been good partners.”

Civil Beat politics editor Chad Blair contributed to this story.