UH strike vote begins as gap widens

By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Staff Writer

The University of Hawai'i's 3,100 faculty members started taking a strike authorization vote yesterday as their union and the state appeared to move further away from important contract issues.

Dr. Terence Knapp casts his University of Hawai'i Professional Assembly ballot at the UH Campus Center. Yesterday was the first day of the faculty union's strike authorization voting, which continues through tomorrow. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

"I voted to strike, and I basically feel we are being pushed into it," said John Charlot, professor of Polynesian religions. "This is putting something on the table that is designed to make us strike. We're being goaded towards it."

The state's offer, given to the union late Friday afternoon, would give faculty members at the Manoa, Hilo and West O'ahu campuses a 7 percent raise over two years, plus 3 percent for possible merit raises.

The offer would give the community college faculty a $4,755 raise over two years and 1 percent for merit raises over that time.

But it would also stop the prorating of salaries over a 12-month period, leaving most faculty members holding the entire bill for their health care coverage and without credit toward retirement during the summer months. Faculty would have to work four years for every three years of retirement credit, union officials said.

"What they're asking us to take is a 25 percent reduction in health and retirement," said Steve Robinow, an associate professor of zoology. "It's ludicrous."

The faculty union and the state have been negotiating unsuccessfully for more than two years, and faculty members have not had a pay raise since 1998.

Salaries for the entire 10-campus system range from $30,000 to $149,000, but most faculty members fall toward the bottom end of that scale.

The members of the University of Hawai'i Professional Assembly across the state will cast ballots through tomorrow and the results will be finalized and announced on Saturday. If a strike is authorized and no contract agreement is reached, the faculty would likely walk off the job around April 5, the same time the union representing Hawai'i's public school teachers is planning a strike.

"We may be closer on the numbers, but we're not closer on the principles," said Davis Yogi, the governor's chief negotiator.

But Yogi also said the state would be willing to keep the faculty on a 12-month pay, health and retirement schedule if the union will give up its longtime lawsuit opposing a one-time pay lag that other public employee unions agreed to. The pay lag would gradually move paydays up so the state could have a savings of about $6 million.

Faculty members say the contract sticking point is no longer money. "I think there's increasing anger," said Mary Tiles, a philosophy professor and a chairwoman of the collective bargaining committee of the University of Hawai'i Professional Assembly. "It's not just about pay. It's about being treated fairly and having decent working conditions."

UHPA has asked for a 12 percent across-the-board raise for all campuses over two years. The union also wants the community college faculty to receive one teaching credit each semester for nonteaching activities, such as publishing or community service, in much the same way their colleagues at the four-year campuses do.

The state, however, has vigorously opposed that provision, arguing that it would force the university to hire more faculty to make up for the shortfall in teaching load. Community college faculty would be required to teach 12 hours each semester instead of the 15 hour standard now.

Gov. Ben Cayetano's office has also said there is no money in the state's coffers to pay for what the union wants.

Tom Klobe, an art professor who has been at Manoa since 1977, said his concerns about what will happen to students led him to cast a ballot opposing a strike. While Klobe said the faculty needs a contract, he said the union should try to seek a win-win position in the bargaining. "I made a commitment to my students at the beginning of the semester," he said. "I feel I have an obligation to them. I told them I'm here, and I will continue to see this through."

Kristi Schaller, an assistant professor of speech at Manoa who voted in favor of the strike, said her students are starting to ask more questions about what would happen to them during a strike. "The students are going to get hurt," Schaller said. "I think they're starting to realize that."

Karlee Gentemann, 21, a junior at Manoa, said her professors have told her a strike seems likely and that the first session of summer school could be cancelled if the walkout lasts longer than a week and a half.

"I need summer school," Gentemann said. "I'm in support of them. I understand their position. I just think it's too bad that we're going to get screwed."