State legislator fought to advance workers’ rights

Yoshito Takamine, a longtime power in Hawaii labor and politics and one of the architects of the groundbreaking Hawaii Prepaid Health Care Act, died Tuesday at home in Honokaa with his family. He was 89.

Takamine was a determined and unapologetic advocate for labor interests in general and the International Longshoremen & Warehousemen’s Union in particular, and led the ILWU on Hawaii island for many years.

He was also one of the strategists who shepherded bills through the Legislature to protect and advance the interests of Hawaii’s working people, including the state’s workers’ compensation law, the temporary disability insurance law and the collective-bargaining law that gave public workers the right to organize.

"He was a giant of the labor movement in the state of Hawaii, and he was perhaps the most influential labor person on this island for three or four decades," said Stan Roehrig, a Hilo lawyer who arrived at the state House to serve his first term in 1969. "I’m very proud that I had a chance to know him during his tenure and during his lifetime, because he was a mentor for all of us."

Takamine was first elected to the Territorial House of Representatives in 1958, and was re-elected 12 consecutive times. He controlled the House Labor Committee through much of the 1960s and 1970s, and Roehrig said Takamine served as a spokesman for the labor movement in the House.

Linda Chu Takayama, director of the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, said Takamine, along with state Sen. Nadao Yoshinaga and ILWU lawyer Ed Nakamura, "made an indelible impact on the development of Hawaii’s labor laws."

"Yoshito was a tireless fighter on behalf of the people of Hawaii and especially workers," Takayama said.

Randy Perreira, executive director of the Hawaii Government Employees Association, said Takamine’s legacy as a labor leader, legislator and community activist "will forever remain unmatched."

"The labor movement in Hawaii has lost a true champion. Yoshito Takamine was a strong advocate for Big Island workers and was equally energetic in participating in efforts to improve the Hamakua community," Perreira said.

Bo Lapenia, former state president of the ILWU, recalled that Takamine recruited him to work full time for the union and became his mentor. Then he loaded Lapenia up with so much union work that Lapenia wondered whether he could handle the job.

"I thought, ‘What is this guy trying to do to me? He’s going to kill me with the workload,’" Lapenia said. "I think he was just testing me for my capacity to work and how much passion I had for the work." Takamine himself had a tremendous capacity for work, Lapenia recalled.

"Can you imagine juggling his political career, and also being the Hawaii division director of the ILWU? You can imagine how many lives he touched," Lapenia said.

Takamine’s father, Tozo, arrived in Hawaii from Okinawa in 1919 to work for Honokaa Sugar Co., and his mother, Usa, was a picture bride, also from Okinawa. Yoshito was the third oldest of 14 children and graduated from Honokaa High School before going to work for Honokaa Sugar as a mechanic’s helper and crane operator.

Takamine became a business agent for the ILWU in 1950 and was selected by the union to run for the Territorial Legislature. He later said his goal was to rewrite Hawaii labor law, which was tilted in favor of management.

"He was a hard guy, he was a hard as labor was, and if people were working hard on the plantations, Yoshito always remembered that," said Roehrig, who now serves on the state Board of Land and Natural Resources. "He was always as hard as the hardest guy out there in the plantation field, and he tried to set an example for the rest of us on how we should act when it came to legislating."

Takamine’s oldest son, Dwight, said his father was a product of the plantation experience and taught his children to work hard, to drive to succeed and to respect their elders because their grandparents had sacrificed so much.

He also stressed to his children "the relationships with the people of the community, giving back to the community because we received so much growing up," Dwight Takamine said.

Perhaps Yoshito Takamine signature accomplishment at the Legislature was passage of the 1974 Prepaid Health Care Act, which requires Hawaii companies to provide health insurance for employees who work more than 20 hours a week. Takamine led the effort to pass that law in the House, while fellow lawmaker Nadao Yoshinaga pushed the measure through the state Senate.

After Takamine retired from the Legislature in 1984, son Dwight was elected to the same House seat representing the Kohala and Hamakua districts. Dwight Takamine, who is a lawyer, went on to represent that region of Hawaii island for decades and also became one of the most powerful lawmakers in the state during his tenure at the Legislature.

Yoshito Takamine is survived by wife Kimiko of Honokaa; sons Dwight of Laupahoehoe and Delbert of Las Vegas; daughters Arlene Hashimoto of Hilo, Melanie Fergerstrom of Waimea and Karleen Kaohimaunu of Honokaa; three brothers; and three sisters.

Services are pending.