Teamsters officials yesterday submitted a 72-hour strike notice against Hawaiian Cement that could threaten Hawai'i's booming construction industry just two years after it recovered from a devastating Islandwide concrete strike.

If no significant progress is made, Mel Kahele, president of the Hawaii Teamsters and Allied Workers, Local 996, said yesterday that Teamsters will strike Hawaiian Cement's loading and unloading operations from the Big Island to Kaua'i at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, which could effectively choke the only source of cement needed to make concrete throughout the Islands.

"It'll shut down construction again, and we don't want that," Kahele said.

But Kahele said he won't endorse the company's "last, best and final offer" that includes pay increases over five years for 26 Teamsters — along with a proposal that Kahele said requires them to contribute 20 percent of their medical premiums.

"The proposed pay increase equals $173 per month," Kahele said. "Even with the pay increase, they would still have to pay $224 out of their pockets" monthly to cover the new co-payments. "We're adamant against that. We're trying to save our benefits."

Mike Coad, Hawaiian Cement's vice president and lead negotiator in the talks, declined last night to describe the company's offer but said it includes pay increases for each of five years for what he said are 20 employees.

"We have outstanding employees," Coad said. "We have a very fair proposal on the table and we've asked the union to take it to the rank and file, and I'm hoping that's what's going to happen."

If the Teamsters should go on strike, Coad said, the company has contingency plans to continue operations, but he declined to outline the plans.

The 2004 Teamsters strike against Hawaiian Cement and its main competitor, Ameron Ha-waii, directly affected unionized truck drivers, welders, mechanics, heavy-equipment operators and others at the two companies.

But with no concrete for foundations, curbs, driveways and other building components, hundreds of construction workers throughout the Islands were suddenly laid off for months. Developers and builders said the strike cost them millions in lost revenue.

The current negotiations between the Teamsters and Hawaiian Cement are restricted to union employees who unload shiploads of incoming cement at Kalaeloa and then load them onto trucks for distribution on O'ahu and onto barges for the Neighbor Islands.

No other company imports cement to the Islands, Coad said. "We're the only ones," he said.

"Cement is basically a glue," Coad said. "Then you add it to rock, sand and water to form ready-mix concrete. ... The people who are involved load ships, trucks and barges and man the Neighbor Island terminals" in Hilo and Kona, and on Maui and Kaua'i.

The current contract expired on Dec. 31 but was extended to expire at midnight tonight.

Coad contacted federal mediator Ken Kawamoto, who sat in on the 2004 negotiations, late last week but said he didn't think Kawamoto's services would be needed.

"The two sides got together (Friday) night for the 11th time to try to reach a settlement," Coad said. "The company finally put a last, best and final offer on the table. ... At that time, Mel had (Teamsters attorney) Mike Chambrella scribble out a 72-hour strike notice on a pad and pass it across the table to us."

The Teamsters' strike notice sent shudders throughout Ha-wai'i's construction industry last night.

"We lost a lot of money last time, man," said Fred Perlin, who laid off his 27 concrete workers in 2004 and has since started his own construction company, Perlin Development. "This is not a good development."

Kenneth Choate, executive vice president of Haseko Construction Inc., said, "Here we go again. Last time, it put a lot of people out of work. Think about the guys that are going to be out of a job."

Concrete worker June Pascua of Waipahu was laid off from his job at Foundations Hawaii for two months during the 2004 strike and said another strike "will shut down the whole cement business again."

Pascua, a father of three, said, "Anything that stops you from paying your bills isn't good."

The construction industry remains "a major pillar of our economy," said Leroy Laney, a Hawai'i Pacific University professor of economics and finance.

"You only have to drive around to see all of the construction activity coming out of the ground," Laney said. "Cement, of course, is a critical part of it. If they've got a monopoly on this link in the chain, obviously, that's not good."

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.