Posted at 5:30 p.m., Monday, August 6, 2001

State says it did not renege on teacher deal

By Bruce Dunford
Associated Press

The state's chief labor negotiator urged Hawai'i's public school teachers today to ask their union negotiators questions about the ongoing dispute involving bonuses for teachers with advanced degrees.

The Hawaii State Teachers Association held meetings in 16 locations around the state today with rank-and-file teachers to determine the union's next step in the dispute over whether the bonuses were for one year or two years in the new teachers contract.

The dispute has held up signing of the two-year tentative agreement reached in April to end the three-week statewide strike by 13,000 teachers, stalling pay increases and other benefits won in the new contract.

Davis Yogi, the state's chief negotiator, called a news conference today to counter accusations made by the union that the state's proposal to resolve the dispute is "more regressive than any previous proposal."

"For too long the HSTA has made unfounded accusations about the state," Yogi said. "The state has not reneged on the contract."

To counter claims that the state was confused about the details of the teacher bonuses, Yogi produced a fax sent by HSTA Executive Director Joan Husted four days after the teachers ratified the new agreement.

It listed 11 questions about details of the bonus agreement, including who qualified.

"If the HSTA lacked clarity about this critical element about the bonus, how can the state be accused of reneging on the deal?" Yogi asked. "This document proves that they had questions. We did not have any questions. We were very clear."

He said the only thing the state has changed in the agreement is to add $3 million to the $6.7 million it had agreed would be spent on the bonuses in the first year of the contract.

"The state is not willing to allow taxpayers to be taken advantage of in this situation and this week we urge teachers to ask the tough questions of the HSTA leadership," Yogi said.

Sandra McFarlane, director of the Department of Education's Personnel Services Branch, said the DOE determined there were 6,479 teachers qualified for the bonus, which would cost the state $8.3 million plus fringes, bringing the total cost to $9.7 million.