Posted on: Wednesday, March 28, 2001
Governor, HSTA to square off after teachers lower demands
By Alice Keesing
Advertiser Education Writer
Attorney General Earl Anzai was optimistic today the state will win its complaint at the Hawai'i Labor Relations Board after the board bluntly questioned officials of the teachers union about bargaining in bad faith.
"You can't get any better than a statement that comes out on TV," Anzai added.
But Ginoza said today the focus needs to stay on the issues raised by teachers.
"We are really concerned about education and we're concerned about our teachers," Ginoza said. "It's not a game we're playing. We're really talking about our teachers' lives. It's not about winning or losing, but doing something right for the state."
Gov. Ben Cayetano and Ginoza will each defend their positions on the deadlocked contract negotiations on television tonight at 6:30. It's an important opprtunity for the governor to get his point across, Anzai said.
"The message is that it's not a matter of whether teachers deserve a pay raise. We can't afford it," Anzai noted. "So the only way we can do it is by cutting government."
After the teachers union revealed yesterday it had informally agreed to drop its contract demand by at least $100 million, negotiators for the union and state met at 9 a.m. today to try to prevent a strike a week from tomorrow.
The Labor Board yesterday grilled union officials about the state's accusation that they have been bargaining in bad faith and engaging in intimidating tactics by planning to photograph anyone crossing the picket line.
The board heard the complaints without one of its three members. Faced with suggestions that he would not hear the case fairly, Chester Kunitake angrily recused himself Monday and decided not to return to the hearing. That means the remaining two board members must agree in order for the board to reach a decision.
Meanwhile, after sitting through hours of legal claims and counterclaims yesterday in a hearing that lasted more than nine hours, Hawai'i State Teachers Association Executive Director Joan Husted and the state's chief negotiator, Davis Yogi, agreed to meet again this morning in an effort to break the deadlock.
Yesterday, state Deputy Attorney General Francis Keeno argued that the HSTA is guilty of bad-faith bargaining because, while the state has made three contract offers, the union has not moved beyond its first request for 22 percent.
"Both sides must be willing to negotiate," said Keeno, who focused his case on written proposals submitted by the two sides.
Union officials countered, saying the state has never offered more than $67 million.
The union also said there have been many informal discussions, including the offer of a $161 million package. That's a drop from the HSTA's first package of 22 percent, which would have cost at least $260 million.
HSTA's Husted said that by spreading the raises over time, the $161 million package would still give teachers an average 21 percent raise.
Despite the state's accusations, state negotiator Yogi painted a different picture of how bargaining had progressed.
"I never thought they were negotiating in bad faith," he said. "I never thought about it."
It wasn't until HSTA President Karen Ginoza told a television reporter that she had not "broken down" the state's last offer, even though that offer had already been rejected, that the question of bad faith emerged, he said.
Ginoza was put on the hot seat for that statement yesterday. "It didn't come out as what I meant, because we did look at the proposal," she said, after watching a tape of the interview.
Meanwhile, the labor board has yet to decide if it will rule on the state's second complaint concerning plans to photograph anyone who crosses the picket line.
The HSTA yesterday said it will withdraw those plans, and attorney Vernon Yu argued that should make the complaint moot.
Nevertheless, Keeno said he still wants a ruling on whether the practice is legal.
"That's illegal, and the teachers know it's illegal," Keeno said. "They should admit that that's wrong. It's a question of accountability. If you don't admit you're wrong, I don't think they should be teachers they're like role models."
Pressed by the board, Ginoza said the plan was "probably not a good idea."
However Husted said there was no "nefarious intent" on the union's part and that the instructions had been part of union strike preparations since the 1970s.
If the labor relations board agrees with the state's charges, the state has asked that teachers be prohibited from walking off the job April 5.
| Tune in, log on tonight • Gov. Ben Cayetano and HSTA President Karen Ginoza will address the public at 6:30 p.m. on KHON, KITV, KGMB and KHNL about contract negotiations between the state and the union. • Watch a webcast of the address at 6:30 p.m. presented by HonoluluAdvertiser.com, KHON and NetEnterprise. |
