Teacher talks may be headed for impasse
Advertiser Staff
Labor negotiations between the public-school teachers' union and state officials may be headed toward an impasse before any specific salary proposals are made.
The two sides are scheduled to meet throughout the week to discuss a range of issues, and either side could ask that an impasse be declared if no agreement is reached by Monday.
That could drive the talks into sessions with an outside mediator, and start a formal fact-finding process.
The Hawai'i State Teachers Association is seeking to increase teacher salaries and benefits, saying that's necessary to end the state's chronic teacher shortage.
The union's "45-60-100" goal would boost starting teachers' annual pay to $45,000, make the average salary $60,000, and increase top-scale pay to $100,000.
New teachers currently earn $36,486; the average salary is just over $45,000; and top scale is $66,203.
The union has not made a formal salary proposal yet, and the state has not made an offer, chief state negotiator Ken Taira said.
He said an impasse over non-monetary issues was very likely, and could come before any salary proposals are made. An agreement over monetary issues for this year would be needed by late April, when the Legislature puts final touches on spending bills, he said.
"There will be an impasse declared," Taira said. "I'm just optimistic that there will be a settlement by the time we go to the Legislature to get approval for cost items. ... The pressure is mounting."
The union's negotiator could not immediately be reached yesterday.
The HSTA's current contract expires at the end of June. The two-year deal was approved last April, and was retroactive to July 2003. The contract provided teachers with raises of up to 7 percent.
Hawai'i's 13,000 teachers went on strike for three weeks in April 2001 before ratifying a contract that included raises totaling 18.5 percent over two years.
The state has long faced a shortage of teachers, and many have said the starting salary does not meet the high cost of living here.
The Department of Education hired 1,421 new teachers this school year but remained short by 357 by the time the last school started classes in August. Schools remain about 275 teachers short today.
