Teachers, state resume talks today
By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer
The state and teachers union will return to negotiations today — their first formal meeting after a month of public bickering over a contract provision.
Neither side appeared ready to budge more than three months after a statewide teachers strike shut down the state's system of public education.
"We'll bring out all the bells and whistles," said Joan Husted, executive director of the Hawai'i State Teachers Association. "Everything else has been informal. It's been on the telephone and e-mailing and talking over at the (Department of Education)."
Gov. Ben Cayetano and the HSTA remain at odds over a provision giving 3 percent bonuses to teachers with advanced and professional degrees. The dispute over who is eligible and for how many years has delayed signing of the contract.
The state's offer last week limits the bonus to one year. HSTA President Karen Ginoza has called the state's offer "cynical at best."
The teachers union has offered to take the 3 percent bonus for the first year and negotiate through a third party for the second year.
Cayetano said the state would consider agreeing to that if the mediator looks at the intent of the bonuses provision.
"We made the offer in good faith. It's not far from what they had proposed," Cayetano said yesterday. "I think it's pretty clear the state's intent was a one-year bonus. Every documentation that we have, including the HSTA's documentation, indicates that at some point, they also believed it was one year ."
The governor has suggested that bonuses for teachers with advanced degrees be removed from the contract negotiated earlier this year and either renegotiated or rewritten with a cap of $9.7 million.
Both sides have accused the other of bad faith, and the HSTA has threatened legal action or another strike.
"The governor said he had no room to move on this," Husted said. "I've negotiated long enough and I've heard that before. I'm hopeful."
Union officials will be out talking to teachers next week, laying out the alternatives, discussing the pros and cons and gauging how teachers want to respond to the situation. The HSTA board will vote on Aug. 11 on how to proceed.
The union wants to finish the negotiations before most of the state's schoolteachers return to work for the fall semester. Hundreds of Hawai'i teachers on the year-round schedule returned to class last week without a contract, although the majority of the state's schools start Aug. 23.
Hawai'i teachers struck for three weeks in April before ratifying a proposed contract that called for raises totaling about 18.5 percent over the next two years. None of those pay increases will be realized while the contract remains unsigned.
The document reads: "Teachers who hold professional certificates based on a Masters degree or a Professional Diploma shall receive a 3% differential calculated on their current salary each year."
That wording was written by HSTA staff and reviewed by both parties April 23 when they reached their tentative agreement.
The state's chief negotiator, Davis Yogi, argues that the wording is open to interpretation, but admits that he overlooked the crucial language in the contract that specifies the bonus be paid "each year."
The governor and Yogi maintain that because the figure of $6 million for the bonuses was used in both state documents and a union flier, that indicates the deal was only for one year. The union maintains it was a two-year deal.
State officials did not notice the problematic wording until May 1, one week after teachers had ratified the contract, ending their three-week strike.
At that point the governor still had not approved the deal and negotiations continued behind the scenes.
Cayetano said he draws the line at $9.7 million for the bonuses because the money is coming from the Department of Education budget and he does not want other education programs jeopardized.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. You can reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.
