Hawaii State AFL-CIO

Background

The Hawaii State AFL-CIO is a chartered state affiliate of the national AFL-CIO. The organization sets its own state-level public policy agenda and platform at its biennial convention. The organization consists of 74 local labor unions, making it one of the smaller state-level AFL-CIO affiliates in the United States. The Hawaii State AFL-CIO operates two main programs: the Committee on Political Education (COPE), which spreads information on voting, elections, left-leaning policy stances, and candidate endorsements to members; and the Labor Community Services Program (LCSP), which conducts community service projects such as a weekly food distribution program. ^{1 2}

Policy Stances

The Hawaii State AFL-CIO lobbies for various pro-labor union policies at the state and local levels in Hawaii and supports left-leaning federal legislation. A main focus of the organization’s recent lobbying efforts includes supporting the Democratic-led PRO Act in congress, which would enact a host of left-leaning pro-union policies. The organization led a postcard campaign to pressure Senators Mark Warner (D-VA), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) to sign on to support the legislation. The organization has also closely tracked the redistricting of Hawaii’s congressional and state legislative districts. ³

The organization also provides information to its member unions on how to ensure that their political action committee ads and printed materials are union made, and supports the “Be Union, Buy Union” campaign of the Union Label and Service Trades Department, AFL-CIO. ⁴

Candidate Endorsements

The Hawaii State AFL-CIO also endorses candidates for public offices and consistently almost exclusively endorses Democratic candidates for national and state offices. In 2020, the organization endorsed solely Democratic candidates for office including President Joe Biden, U.S. Rep Kai Kahele (D), five Democratic state senate candidates in Oahu, and 19 state representative candidates in Oahu. The organization also endorsed Keith Amemiya (D) for Mayor of Honolulu and left-leaning candidates for the Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai councils as well as a left-leaning candidate for trustee of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. ⁵

People

Randy Perreira is the president of the Hawaii State AFL-CIO and is also simultaneously the executive director of the Hawaii Government Employees Association (HGEA), also known as AFSCME Local 152. Perreira has been president of the Hawaii State AFL-CIO since 2005 and is the son of Herbert Perreira, who worked for HGEA for over 20 years. Perreira is also an international vice president for the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and has been working for the HGEA since 1983. He is on the board of several organizations including Aloha United Way, Island Energy Services, Hawaii Medical Services Association, the Hawaiian Tax-Free Trust, and Transform Hawaii Government. ⁶