Posted on: Thursday, April 24, 2003

Firefighter contract settled in arbitration

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

An independent arbitration panel has awarded Hawai'i's 1,800 firefighters a two-year contract that calls for about a 10 percent wage increase effective July 1.

The binding settlement between the Hawai'i Fire Fighters Association and the state and county governments was reached earlier this month. The firefighters union is the second of 13 public-worker unions whose contract expires June 30 to be awarded a settlement.

An arbitrator earlier had awarded the 1,260 nurses who belong to the Hawai'i Government Employees Association a two-year package that calls for a 10 percent increase in wages and other benefits. The award includes a one-time 3 percent across-the-board wage increase for the nurses who work at various state hospitals and facilities, said HGEA spokesman Randy Kusaka.

Negotiations between the state and the unions representing more than 50,000 state and county workers, including public school teachers and University of Hawai'i professors, are continuing.

The state Legislature must appropriate money to cover both contracts for the 150 state firefighters and the 1,260 nurses. The county councils also must approve money to cover the firefighters settlement, and if any legislative body refuses to finance the new contract, all sides must return to the bargaining table.

Honolulu City Council Budget Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi could not be reached for comment yesterday regarding the new contract that covers O'ahu's 1,000 firefighters.

The contract will cost the city an additional $6.9 million over two years, according to a memo from Mayor Jeremy Harris to the City Council. Harris had taken a "no increase' stand throughout the collective bargaining process because of a lack of city revenue.

Firefighters union president Capt. Robert Lee said he was "pleased" with the panel's award. The two sides had been negotiating since January 2002.

"Even though we're still significantly behind our Mainland counterparts, understanding the economy over here, I'm pleased that we're at least moving in the right direction," Lee said. Entry-level firefighters currently earn $2,721 a month and the base pay for a captain is $4,530, he said.

The new contract also creates an eight-step salary schedule that rewards firefighters for their years of service. Under the old four-step pay schedule, 85 percent of the firefighters were on the bottom step, Lee said.

"We have firefighters with one year of service making just as much as firefighter with 10 to 12 years of experience," Lee said.

He said firefighters also won improvements in the department's overtime policy. But Lee said the panel rejected the union's proposal for a 10 percent "proficiency pay" increase for personnel assigned to the training bureau.

"It's not one of our more popular assignments," he said.

The union has been holding information meetings this week to explain the new contract to its members. Lee said because the contract is binding, there will be no ratification vote.

Only state nurses, prison guards, firefighters and police officers are entitled to binding arbitration because they are not allowed to strike.