Posted on: Tuesday, November 6, 2001

Editorial
Give the teachers their bonuses now

The struggle over a professional bonus between the state and the teachers union continues, as mediation efforts have fallen apart.

The next step will be a contested hearing before the Hawai'i Labor Relations Board, which will fix blame.

This whole exercise is pointless.

Everyone knows the parameters of the debate by now. The state argues that it verbally agreed to pay a single 3 percent bonus to teachers with master's degrees and professional diplomas during the April teachers strike.

But the state claims the union staff changed the agreement to say the bonus would be annual during the two-year contract while typing up the version that the teachers ratified.

The state says it didn't notice the change until later.

Both sides feel honor-bound to have their side of the story upheld. Both sides are more interested in being right than in having this dispute settled.

But as we have said from the start, it is the state that should have gracefully given way. Here's why:

The April strike was unnecessary to begin with. The morale of classroom teachers was bad enough when the strike ended, but this dispute has depressed it further. The controversial resignation of Schools Superintendent Paul LeMahieu plunged it to rock bottom.

Thus it doesn't matter who's right. The Department of Education has the money to pay both years of the bonus. It should do so immediately — insisting only that any further bonuses must be negotiated from scratch in the next contract — and end this senseless dispute.