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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Sunday, April 24, 2005

Agreement reached on teachers' contract

Advertiser Staff and News Services

A tentative settlement is reported in contract negotiations between the state and the union representing Hawai'i's public school teachers.

Negotiators for the Hawai'i State Teachers Association briefed the union's board of directors on the settlement late yesterday afternoon.

Ratification meetings are expected to be held later this week.

Ken Taira, the state's chief negotiator, and Roger Takabayashi, president of HSTA, said yesterday they were not yet willing to release details of the agreement.

"The Board of Education and the Department of Education gave tentative agreement last night," Taira said yesterday. "Then it went to the governor for her approval."

A formal announcement was expected to be made today.

The union was pushing for a settlement so that it can be approved by the Legislature before its adjournment on May 5.

Legislative conferees are expected to approve a compromise two-year state budget tomorrow.

Sen. Brian Taniguchi, D-10th (Mo'ili'ili, Manoa), chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said the budget conferees are waiting to see the figures in the proposed settlement.

The state and union resumed negotiations last Monday, with wages being the last remaining issue.

The talks resumed two days after an arbitration award that gave state and county white-collar workers wage increases averaging about 5 percent over each of the next two years.