Dean Kapoi is the vice president of human resources and labor relations at Young Brothers Ltd./Hawaiian Tug & Barge.

Q. Like everyone else, Young Brothers has had to deal with rising fuel costs, particularly over the past few months. How difficult was that?

A. The rising fuel costs have affected the transportation sector nationwide and worldwide tremendously. Everything requires modes of transportation, which require the use of fuel, and it does impact the way you do business because it becomes a bigger part of the economic pie.

It spiked so fast that a lot of the organizations couldn't even budget for it. If somebody put in their budget the year before what numbers we were seeing earlier this year, there would be no way somebody would approve that budget, because nobody could have imagined what happened. But it did and we have to stomach it. We have to be more efficient in how we do things.

Those types of events in our economy drive the need for efficiencies. Out of all of that turmoil, a lot of positive comes out of it. You don't feel it, you don't see it, but if you look back in a few years as this economy turns and the fuel prices start to stabilize, a lot of companies will be better for it because they will be pressed as we are to look at an efficient way of doing things. If you don't, that fuel component can really be detrimental to your bottom line.

Q. Has the Superferry had an impact on your business?

A. It has. It's provided an option for the community. So some of our larger rolling stock, it provides options to move to the Neighbor Islands, and in this case it would be Maui.

So it has affected us in what we consider our "roll-roll" department and automobiles. Some of the community that would move the autos through the Young Brothers process can now be satisfied through the Superferry.

Q. How do you adjust to that?

A. Whether it's the Superferry or whether it's any other (business), we have competition. The air cargo is a competitor, the Superferry provides that kind of venue for those who want their cargo there on the same day.

But we always have to view ourselves as being in competition, so you gotta strive to do things the best and most efficient way. There are certain things, like transits over the ocean, if it's a 12-hour transit to Kahului or a 13-hour transit, there's nothing that we can really do to speed that up. So we have built-in time frames in our processes. We just have to provide good to great customer service and let the consumers choose which venue satisfies them the best.

Q. You have an engineering degree. How did you go from engineering to where you are now?

A. After I got my degree from Long Beach State I came home and there really were no jobs in my field that were available. I ended up working for Hawaiian Cement and I got laid off. On a whim, there was a position available at Hawaiian Electric Co.'s human resource department in 1997 and that's how I got started.

Times were really tough at the cement plant. H-3 had just come to a close and we were looking at cutting back and getting materials from other countries, so I was part of that cutback. I only had 2 1/2 years. It was the right business decision to make — maybe not at the time for me, having just moved into my house two months before I got laid off.

Q. Having been laid off once, how has that affected your approach to labor-management issues?

A. Having experienced that so young in my career, it did affect me somewhat. The economy is really putting a lot of pressure on companies to rethink and re-engineer things that we do. At times, it does result in looking at your manpower needs.

But I firmly believe if a company can manage itself during the high times properly, that it could sustain with the current manning levels during the low times, which we are now. I'm happy to say that, at least for now, we at Young Brothers, we're really looking at just re-engineering our processes as opposed to anything else that may be more dramatic.

Q. Despite the tough times, you recently negotiated a three-year contract with one of the unions?

A. We were able to reach an agreement with the Inlandboatmen's Union, which is the mariners' part of our company. The ILWU, our contract has come up for negotiation and we should be looking to sit at the table with the ILWU within the month.

Q. Do you see any problems reaching a deal with the ILWU because of the economic conditions?

A. The economy always puts some pressure, but we've been able to work well together during the highs and lows. In my time here at the company, this is the first really low time. Having been with the organization only 10 years, we've gone through the cycle in the past and found ways to work it out and I'm sure they'll find ways to work out the situation.

Q. Did you have a background in human resources?

A. I had no academic background in human resources or in any school of business. It was basically (on-the-job training) ... for a couple of years and then I found my way to Young Brothers, which was a sister company at the time under the HEI Cos.

Q. Did you go straight into management?

A. Yes I did. I worked in the labor relations department at HECO. At Hawaiian Cement I worked in the lab, so I was always on the management side. I worked in the lab and I became a supervisor in the maintenance division.

I got laid off and went into a management position in labor relations at HECO and I basically stayed my whole career on the management side of the pond.

Q. What do you bring to the table?

A. I worked in the labor relations arena for about eight years before I went out into operations for the last three and I came back to the labor arena effective Sept. 1. So unofficially I always had my hand in the labor relations with regards to the unions. So I think it's a good balance.

I've been able to foster a good working relationship with the unions and I think that's always been key, to have a relationship, regardless of where you're at or what you're doing.

Q. What are some of your professional as well as personal challenges?

A. The challenge from a company standpoint with the economy is the pension plans. A lot of companies are taking a look at the pension plans and the funding required. With the economy that's going south pretty fast, as the pension valuations come in, we're going to see some funding levels that aren't going to make a lot of companies happy.

In my current capacity, I have oversight of the benefits area, so I sit on company boards that review the performance of the assets. So we have contracted vendors that provide those services for us and we look at it and we make decisions based on how we want to see the valuations.

Q. What do you hope to accomplish at Young Brothers?

A. My goal has always been to continue working on relationships within the company. A lot of people overlook the value of a good working relationship between the company and its employees, between the company and the union organizations, between the company's teams, and between the two companies (Young Brothers and Hawaiian Tug & Barge). One of my goals is to continue to maintain that and make it better.

Everybody has some ways to go because we're all struggling for our different operations or our own personal interests, but we have to keep those relationships strong. That's one of the things that I try to do. I try to be the peacemaker for everybody.