HGEA, UPW contracts signal start of new era
While you weren't looking, Gov. Ben Cayetano set in motion a new and presumably more forward-looking relationship between the state and its unionized public workers.
First with the United Public Workers and now with the Hawai'i Government Employees Association, Cayetano has opened the door on changes that a few years ago might have appeared impossible.
It is a credit to Cayetano's tenacity and to the flexibility of enlightened union leadership that this shift has occurred. The changes made, or at least being considered, are hardly revolutionary in themselves. But they signal that both labor and management recognize the need to bring government service into the 21st century.
What the unions and Cayetano are building over the bargaining table is a piece of the larger puzzle that goes by the name of civil service reform. This is an effort to shift from outmoded or inflexible work rules, regulations, laws and practices that might have made sense in the early days of statehood, but no more.
The unions, understandably, have been cautious about all this. Why would they give up long-established workplace protections or rights and get nothing in return?
What Cayetano has offered is, in effect, to "buy" some modest changes with wage contracts that stretch the state's budget. The unions achieve a reasonable contract and have a direct voice in the changes that will impact their members on the job for years to come.
The icebreaker in the HGEA contract was the union's agreement to discuss and put into place such changes as reduced vacation and sick leave benefits for new hires, tougher drug screening policies, cost-control efforts for health benefits and a fresh look at privatization and binding arbitration.
The fact that all this is even on the table is impressive. Putting such changes into practice won't be easy, but it is crucial. Hawai'i's future depends on having a government that is flexible, progressive, open to change and in tune with the realities of today's needs and resources.
A start has been made. From here on, there can be no turning back.
