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The Honolulu Advertiser

Updated at 11:01 a.m., Thursday, April 5, 2007

State, union employees reach tentative contract

Advertiser Staff

Gov. Linda Lingle and the Hawai'i Government Employees Association announced a tentative agreement this morning on a new two-year $183.2 million contract for about 26,000 state and county government workers.

The proposed contract now will go to a vote among union members and HGEA officials hope to have the contract ratified by April 17.

Negotiations had been at an impasse and an arbitration panel was expected to make a decision April 23. But Lingle and Russell Okata, HGEA's executive director, said the two sides were able to reach a settlement beneficial to the state and the union.

State and county workers from six HGEA bargaining unions would receive 4 percent annual pay raises starting in July along with step increases based on performance and years of service. Lingle and the union declined to discuss the contract in more detail because it has not gone before rank-and-file workers.

The state and the union are still at an impasse in negotiations with about 1,500 registered nurses.

The state also is negotiating new contracts with the Hawai'i State Teachers Association and the United Public Workers.

State lawmakers are waiting for the final costs of collective bargaining so they can make tax and spending decisions before the session ends in May.