State accuses HSTA of 'deliberate deception'

By Alice Keesing
Advertiser Education Writer

The state shot back at the teachers union yesterday, filing a complaint accusing it of "fraud or deliberate deception."

The Hawai'i State Teachers Association filed its own complaint with the Hawai'i Labor Relations Board last week, asking the board to order the governor to sign their written agreement and pay for the delay in implementing it.

The two sides are at odds over a 3 percent professional bonus and whether it was intended to be paid for one or two years.

In two separate documents filed with HLRB late yesterday, the state accused the union of bargaining in bad faith.

The documents reveal that negotiations between the two sides continued — and nearly fell apart — even after teachers had voted to accept the agreement and return to work.

The state said the two parties reached an oral agreement on April 23, which "was consummated with a hug and handshakes between the governor and the HSTA representatives."

HSTA staff "unilaterally" changed details of that oral agreement when they produced a written draft to be voted on by Hawai'i's striking teachers, the state charges. One of the changes involved the bonus, which the written proposal states is for "each year" of the two-year contract.

The state's complaint maintains that negotiators discussed only the bonus for one year at a cost of $6 million and argues that it is the oral agreement of April 23 that should be the binding one.