UPW's deferred pay still awaits city vote

Associated Press

Despite the hint that the action could provoke a statewide walkout, a Honolulu City Council committee yesterday delayed approving money for a deferred compensation plan for blue-collar workers.

The Budget Committee approved, then sent to the full council, a measure to finance other parts of the contract reached with the United Public Workers union in December for 12,000 state and city workers.

However, the council measure up for final approval later this month includes a provision not to pay for a tax-exempt deferred compensation plan until a court or the Hawai'i Labor Relations Board decides on the plan's legality.

The labor board scheduled a hearing on the issue for June 22. A prehearing conference will be held June 15.

City attorneys said there's a question of whether state law allows negotiation of a pension plan in addition to the state Employees Retirement System, where benefits are set by law.

"It's not a matter of the city vs. UPW," said council Chairman Jon Yoshimura. "I think that we've gotten some very good legal advice that questions the legality of this deferred compensation."

Gary Rodrigues, statewide director of the UPW, said the deferred compensation plan involves wages, not retirement.

"If you don't stay until retirement, you take out what you have in the account when you leave. It's wages," he said.

The union agreed to the 1 percent increase in wages on a deferred basis so Gov. Ben Caye-

tano could maintain his base offer of 11 percent pay raises to all public employees, Rodrigues said.

He said he has asked for a negotiation session with the city next week to discuss the issue.

"If they still maintain their position, we must look at our options," Rodrigues said. "And there is only one option."

He said that if the full council refuses to finance the new compensation program, it would constitute a rejection of the UPW's contract with the four counties and the state.

"That's what the law says," Rodrigues said.

With such a rejection, the union members who authorized a strike during stalled contract talks last October could walk off the job, he said.

Rodrigues said the other counties and the state accepted the deferred compensation plan.

Deputy Attorney General Kathleen Watanabe said the state doesn't feel there's any legal problem with the plan that was approved by the state's chief negotiator, Davis Yogi.