Updated at 3:59 p.m., Monday, April 23, 2007
Tentative agreement reached in UPW negotiations
Advertiser Staff
According to a news release from Gov. Linda Lingle's office, the state and the counties have reached a tentative agreement with the United Public Workers union in negotiations involving the following bargaining units:Bargaining Unit 1 — blue-collar non-supervisory employees, which has approximately 9,000 employees. The state, the Judiciary, the Hawai'i Health Systems Corp., the city and county of Honolulu, and the counties of Hawai'i, Maui and Kaua'i employ these UPW members.
Bargaining Unit 10 — institutional, health and correctional workers, which has approximately 2,800 employees. The state, the Judiciary, the Hawai'i Health Systems Corp. and the city and county of Honolulu employ members of this bargaining unit.
The members of the two bargaining units are currently in various stages of the ratification process, the release said. Details of the contracts will remain confidential until after the ratifications are completed, it said.
If ratified by the membership, the contract would take effect on July 1, 2007, and run through June 30, 2009.
The lone remaining public sector negotiation involves the State of Hawai'i Organization of Police Officers (SHOPO), which represents police officers in the four county jurisdictions.
It is anticipated that the parties will enter the arbitration phase of bargaining sometime in May. As there are no state employees in this bargaining unit, the state Legislature is not involved in the funding process.
