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GAUTHIER:Gauthier? Well, I say Gauthie (phonetic). You can say Gauthier, Ill <br />respond. <br />WATANABE:Gauthie (phonetic), oh, Im sorry, Gauthier (phonetic). <br />GAUTHIER:No, no, no. Its okay. They are silent, French, wacky French people. <br />Chairman Watanabe, I dont want to make you perceive that I didnt hear what you said earlier <br />about this just being about trips, so to speak, and I understood this to be the Planning <br />Commission, though I have not read your preamble. I wanted to kind of talk about, use my three <br />minutes to talk about the planning as it impacts the community based upon my perception. <br />Would be -? <br />WATANABE:Yeah, sure. <br />GAUTHIER:Okay, thank you. Commissioner Chairman Watanabe, Commissioners, <br />mahaloforthis.MynameisGregoryGauthier.IrepresenttheILWU.Ibelievethatitisupto <br />you good community leaders to assist in directing the community choices you preside over to <br />move us as a community, as a society, forward. One should not just look to a supercenter for <br />jobs with a quantitative tint to their perspective but one should look to it with a vision that <br />includes those jobs which enhance life, community and society. In the example of Wal-Mart- <br />type supercenters, we have seen and heard time and time again that they laugh in the face of <br />living wages, they laugh in the faces of decent medical insurance, they laugh in the face of sick <br />leave benefits, and they laugh in the face of those workers who have sought to bring these basic <br />benefits to enhance the lives of their workers into one of their stores. One might argue, <br />Mr. ILWU rep (thats me) we have the Hawaii Prepaid Health Care Act here in Hawaii. Health <br />care is compulsory. A corporation like Wal-Mart has found ways around this vital act. The Act <br />requires an employee work at least 20 hours each week for four weeks in the prior month to be <br />eligible for health insurance the following month. Some of these corporations believe that it is <br />ethical to schedule workers as many hours as possible for three weeks and reduce the hours to <br />below 20 hours in the fourth week so as not to pay the medical premium based upon the Hawaii <br />Prepaid Health Care Act. This results in underinsured working people who have to tax the <br />already over burden publicly funded medical systems here in Hawaii. How can stores like <br />Foodland, Sack €n Save, and Safeway compete in the market that permits this type of abuse? <br />Stores like Foodland, Sack €n Save, and Safeway have crucial benefits such as descent wages, <br />family medical, sick leave, vacations and reasonable methods for employees to air their <br />grievances. These are some of the most fundamental, crucial, building blocks to supporting the <br />families which build our communities here on the Big Island. <br />I would like to finish by again beseeching you respective volunteers who have given of yourself <br />to sit on this Commission to enhance the lives of the citizens in each of your respective districts. <br />I plead with you to support the enhancement and progression of our Hawaii island by supporting <br />the County Councils amendment to enhance the lives of our communities and denounce the <br />regression that the amendment to create a superstore zoning district would initiate. Mahalo. <br />WATANABE:Thank you. Do we have any questions from the Commissioners? Okay, <br />thank you. Bryan, this time Im right, okay, Mr. Halsey? <br />16 EXHIBIT B <br /> <br />