By David Shapiro

Salaries of top University of Hawai'i executives have grown 213 percent since 2001, with at least a dozen receiving $200,000 a year — topped by President Evan Dobelle at $442,000.

UH regents and Dobelle chalked it up to simple business: "You get what you pay for."

Curiously, the same logic isn't being applied to compensating the university's 3,223 faculty members, who are possibly two weeks away from their second strike in three years as the Lingle administration and UH hardball them in contract talks.

It will represent a tragic breakdown of fairness and reason if ongoing federal mediation fails to prevent a strike.

There's little argument that UH faculty pay lags compensation at peer universities; UH is in the bottom 30 percent, according to a study by JBL Associates.

This disparity, when compared to administrative pay that is well above the peer average, stymies the university's ability to achieve excellence.

How well would a professional sports franchise do if it paid top dollar to the suits in the front office while penny-pinching on players?

Average faculty salaries in the UH system range from $68,665 at UH Manoa, nearly $11,000 behind peer universities, to $52,322 at the community colleges, some $9,000 below peer institutions, according to JBL.

The faculty union has set a modest goal of raising UH pay to the 50 percent median of peer universities over two years. The union says it would take 6 percent raises this year and 8 percent next year.

The state's current offer of 1 percent this year, 3 percent next year and an average of 3.3 percent over six years falls below the 4 percent JBL says is needed just to keep UH from falling further behind peer universities.

Gov. Linda Lingle and Dobelle have both committed to more equitable faculty pay.

Lingle declared it a priority after she solicited and won the faculty's endorsement in her two campaigns for governor. Dobelle stated flatly last year, "My first commitment is to faculty salaries."

But the promises don't square with the offer the state has on the table.

And state cries of budgetary poverty are getting stale with its Council on Revenues projecting economic growth of 5.2 percent this year and 7.9 percent next year.

The UH faculty and other public workers dutifully accepted pay freezes last year when the economy was sour. Now that revenues are growing again, it's only fair that they share in the bounty.

Dobelle tried to keep his commitment to faculty when he sought unsuccessfully last year to persuade the governor and Legislature to include $29 million for faculty raises in the state's two-year budget.

It wouldn't have satisfied the $42 million cost of the union's current demands, but it was far more than the $8 million the state is now offering — and probably enough to settle without a strike.

To some extent, the faculty is caught in a tug-of-war between the Lingle administration and UH over where the money to pay them would come from.

Lingle has criticized high executive salaries at UH and wants the university to find money in its own budget for faculty pay raises to minimize the general fund impact on other state programs.

UH resists this solution, which means raising tuition or cutting its own programs to pay the faculty.

Adding to the confusion is the dual role of Ted Hong as chief state labor negotiator and interim UH regent.

This could become a huge conflict of interest — or it could put Hong in a unique position to broker a fair settlement.

David Shapiro can be reached at dave@volcanicash.net.