LETTER TO THE HONORABLE ROBERT S. MCNAMARA FROM JOHN A. MCCONE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01676R000400030036-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 11, 2003
• Sequence Number: 36
• Publication Date: January 7, 1964
• Content Type: LETTER

Approved For Release 2003/05/05 : CIA-RDP80BO1676R000400030036-8
During a recent discussion concerning the availability at
*killed craftsmen to the Pearl Harbor area I stated I would
endeavor to got information from contractor friend. of mine
who carried on extensive construction work in the area.
y inquiry, Mr. 14. C. waste *I the
ration has written me concerning the problem
and I attach a copy of his latter. Their experience in sngtneer-
ing construction in the islands indicates that there exists a
ible supply of men skilled in the crafts and trades
E and repair. However ths, first paragraph
a lamer raises same question as to
skilled manpower exists or whether, in the
actors 'live off of the Navy Yard at Pearl
able Robert S. Mcsara
of Defense
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 Approved For Release 2003/05/05: CIA-RDP80BO1676RZ0400030036-8
E3EC-1TEL CORPORATION
DVC c_ri'bt[ r LO, i 963
Apr. John A. McCune
? 0 5 Whitehaven Street, N. W.
Washington 8, D. C.
Tinder date of December 13th you wrote to Steve
regarding the possible dilficcLltics of securing permanent,
;skilled shipyard emp_'oyees n the various; trades and disci-
plines at the Navy Yard at Pearl harbor and pointed out
that this interest was in line with the current efforts being
made by our government in finding ways to economize in
all areas where such e,.orion ies might be made, with par-
ticular reference to the question raised regarding the
difficulty of securing and holding competent people.
As a result of your letter and since several of us,
including John Kiely, Senior V i.ce k-lresirlent and Jirector,
and John O'Connell, Vice President and Director, have
had, as you know, war-time shipbuilding experience
(Calship and Marinship) and since John O'Connell also has
continued to direct our labor relations policies, we feel
that their views would be worthy of consideration.
Specifically, O'Connell points out that over the
three-year period of construction of the Standard Oil re-
finery job near Honolulu we ernployed a total of 3, 000
skilled men to maintain a work force of 1, 500. These
(figures, in themselves, are slightly better than those ap-
p.licable to the mainland. Essentially, the only problem we
encountered was that of securing a small number of highly
skilled pipe welders whom we were able to import from the
mainland, in spite of the prevail.in, wage differential in the
islands. Other than these specialists, we, had no difficulty
manning the job with competent people whc-, for the most
part, had good work attitudes.
Approved For Release 2003/05/05 : CIA-RDP80BO1676R000400030036-8
 Approved For R Ike se 2003/05/05 : CIA-RDP80B01676RQW400030036-8
Mr. John A. McCone
December 20, 1963
.--Page Two--
One source of ir.anpower available to us were people
who had accumulated extended leaves of absence with pay,
as long as 60 to 75 days, from Pearl Harbor. These ex-
perienced craftsmen took their leave and went to work for
us at the refinery. We found them to be excellent workers
who were as competent as those on the mainland and quite
often better. With regard to the specialists we needed,
there was no difficulty recruiting men on the mainland to
go to Honolulu. Most of them stayed until the job was over
and, interestingly enough, a great many continued to live in
the Islands and have been available to us on other con-
struction jobs, such as the building of large thermal power
plants for Hawaiian Electric Company in conjunction with
Hawaiian Dredging Company.
While building the Standard Oil refinery, we and
Hawaiian.. built a large cement plant and, to the best of our
knowledge, these projects also had the same experience
regarding their skilled workers.
In some instances we felt it advisable to initiate
training programs, such as we had to do here on the main-
land if necessary, and here again found that it was possible
to very rapidly train unskilled workers to become excellent
craftsmen.
Inasmuch as there is a wage differential in the Islands
under the mainland and since productivity there is equally
good or better than on the mainland, our opinion would be
that labor costs in the Islands would appear to be quite
favorable.
Certainly, the effort being made in Washington to
effect savings is a worthy one and you may rest assured of
our full support.
Steve will be in touch with you later, but he did want
you to have an answer to your letter at the earliest possible
date.
Sincerely yours,
Approved For Release 2003/05J.O5: CIA-RDPOW000400030036-8
WEW/js W. E. Waste