Video courtesy Baron Sekiya, Hawaii247.com | Voice of Stephanie Salazar

Before the volcano blew the middle east rift zone open, the big news of the weekend was the HELCO union strike.

240 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1260 workers on Hawaii Island joined their union brethren statewide in walking off the job on Friday afternoon. The labor union has been unable to come to terms in bargaining with Hawaiian Electric.

Things were pretty quiet on the Big Island, since no picketing is took place in front of the company’s headquarters or by the power plant in Hilo. A line was started up on Monday, and Big Island Video News will have some footage of that in our report tomorrow.

HELCO president Jay Ignacio issued a recorded message to the media for the energy utility’s customers.

On Sunday, talks resumed between the IBEW and the management of Hawaiian Electric. Nearly 1,300 unionized employees are on strike statewide.