Parents want standoff to end

By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer

Struggling to provide childcare as Hawai'i's education strike heads into its second week, parents enjoying an Easter Sunday with families at Ala Moana Park yesterday said it's time for someone to blink in the eyeball-to-eyeball standoff between the teachers' and faculty unions and the state.

Mello Frank of Papakolea planted one foot firmly on the ground and put her hand to her hip in perfect body language for impatience.

"Sometimes I think the 22 percent (the teachers want) is a lot," she said.

"(Gov. Ben) Cayetano is willing to give 14, why don't they compromise and go 17?"

Negotiations with the Hawai'i State Teachers Association are scheduled to resume this afternoon with a federal mediator's help, while the University of Hawai'i Professional Assembly will be back at the mediator's bargaining table tomorrow morning.

Today is the 12th calendar day of twin work stoppages by 12,000 public school teachers and 3,100 university professors and instructors that have closed all classes for 183,000 public school students and most courses for 45,000 students on university and community college campuses.

Joan Husted, executive director of the HSTA, said her team met yesterday afternoon among themselves to find "creative" ways to nudge the numbers toward a settlement.

Although no new agreements were reached, UHPA President Alex Malahoff said wee-hour talks yesterday "were productive and we came closer to an agreement in some of the areas."

Patience wearing thin

The biggest hurdle in both strikes is money for pay raises. At last report the state and the HSTA are about $100 million apart. The union wants raises in all four years of the contract, which expired in June 1999. The state's offer would cover raises for the two final fiscal years of the contract, 2002 and 2003.

The UHPA and the state are about 3 percentage points apart on pay issues.

If the handful of families interviewed at their beachside picnics yesterday is any indication, patience with both sides is wearing thin.

"My personal opinion, (support) is less for the teachers" after one week, because "people just want their children to get back into school and get their education," said Frank, whose daughters, 13 and 10, attend Kawananakoa Intermediate and Pauoa Elementary schools.

Last week, their father, a longshoreman, was working nights and could care for the girls, but he's on days this week and the daughters will go to their grandparents.

"Otherwise we wouldn't be able to do it — I would have to take vacation because I will not leave my children at home alone for an eight-hour period," said Mello Frank, a Verizon yellow pages administrator.

Cayetano 'just doesn't care'

But it's the long-term impact on her daughters' education that has her most concerned.

"I think the strike will go for another week, and it's hard to get the kids back into the learning mode after being out so much."

Mark Bishop of 'Ewa Beach also worries sons Sean, 6, and Tyler, 12, are getting out of the school habit while being cared for at their grandparents' house in Hawai'i Kai.

But Bishop, a state employee in the attorney general's office, said people are increasingly siding with the teachers.

"It's because of Cayetano. It's just his attitude. When he's on TV, he just comes off as kind of arrogant. Ever since he got re-elected, he acts like he just doesn't care," Bishop said. "Pretty much, you know, most of the state workers that I work with are pretty much pro-teacher and pretty much pissed off at the governor."

Bishop predicted the teachers strike will be settled by Friday, because that is the end of the pay period. Teachers have managed to go without one paycheck, but probably don't want to miss another.

Bishop said he thinks Cayetano may be trying to delay a settlement until after the Legislature adjourns, so that any agreement will be subject to additional legislative action at the next session. This would give the state an out if the economy turns sour, Bishop said.

Sulu Pelesasa's daughters Maria, 10, of 'Aiea Elementary; Theresa, 14, of 'Aiea Intermediate; and Marlene, 15, of McKinley High School, are spending their days at the Assembly of God church on Palama Street, attending religious classes instead of doing math and reading.

"We're learning to praise the Lord," Maria said, but they aren't praying for more time out of school.

"Please tell Ben Cayetano to open school (today) because it's driving me nuts," laughed Cindy Jacinto, a Hawai'i Kai housewife who finds herself looking after daughter Jane Ashley Fraser full time because the strike has closed Koko Head Elementary.

Fourth-grader Jane Ashley Fraser said teachers deserve more pay, "because they teach you for a lifetime."

Current top teacher pay of $58,000 is necessary "if they have a big family," she said.

Hassled by UH faculty

Ruth Teo, 21, a University of Hawai'i junior from American Samoa who is studying family counseling, is worried that the university strike will force her to return to UH for an additional semester at a cost of $3,500 and a delay in starting a career.

"It's very disappointing," she said. "I already have a set date to graduate, and I want to get out of here at a certain time."

Faculty on the UH picket lines have hassled her, she said.

"I support the faculty, but they have been very mean, calling us names" when she and others have crossed the lines to attend classes, she said. "I don't think that's the way to get people's support. I feel bad about crossing the picket line, but I have to take my classes."