Counties' bid for separate union negotiations fails

By Ronna Bolante
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

Republican lawmakers yesterday failed to revive a bill that would allow individual counties, the University of Hawai'i, the Department of Education and state hospitals to negotiate their own contracts.

Under present law the state and counties bargain jointly in a process that is dominated by the state. The counties have long complained they are forced to pay raises and provide benefits equal to those provided by the state whether the counties can afford them or not.

Republicans argued that the "across the board" approach to collective bargaining is ineffective and counties should be given the autonomy to negotiate their own contracts.

"The state's relationship with the counties has been paternalistic at best and autocratic at worst," said Rep. Mark Moses, R-42nd (Kapolei, 'Ewa Village, Village Park). "Until now, the state has rendered the counties powerless to conduct their own affairs."

Finance Chairman Dwight Takamine, D-1st (Hamakua, N. Kohala), said the bill could threaten the principle of "equal pay for equal work." Negotiations between unions and individual counties could lead to disparity in pay among workers performing the same job in separate counties.

Rep. Ed Case, the only Democrat to support the bill, said there should be differences in pay for workers who live in separate counties.

"Conditions differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction," said Case, D-23rd (Manoa). The principle of "equal pay for equal work ... handicaps the ability of the counties to adjust their pay to their own particular needs," he said.

House Bill 263, which was introduced by several Republican lawmakers, never received a public hearing.

House Republicans tried to force a floor vote on the bill yesterday, but Democrats sent the bill back to committee, essentially killing it for this year.

Water and Land Use Chairman Ezra Kanoho, D-13th (Waipouli-Lihu'e) said the bill would be a "collective bargaining nightmare for the state." Kaua'i County would not be able to compete with the wages offered by other counties, he said, and would lose essential workers as a result.

House Majority Leader Marcus Oshiro said the bill excludes the governor from the collective bargaining process when many of the employees affected are paid with state funds.

Oshiro, D-40th, (Wahiawa-Whitmore), said the bill also violates the state Constitution, which requires the governor to include collective bargaining amounts in his budget requests to the Legislature.