Editorials
Monday, January 13, 1997
UH faculty union pact
bodes well for state
THE contract settlement with the University of Hawaii faculty union averted a strike that could have been extremely damaging to the university and to the Cayetano administration as well. However, no sooner was that obstacle surmounted than the administration was confronted with an even more formidable one - a threatened strike by the teachers union's 11,700 members. A strike vote is scheduled for Feb. 6. If the members authorize a strike, it could be called as soon as Feb. 18. But that is still more than a month away, plenty of time to reach an agreement if both sides are willing.
The UH settlement was reached Friday, virtually on the eve of the walkout scheduled for today. It was evident several days in advance that the major issues - 4 percent pay increases in each of the next two years and division of income from intellectual property between the faculty and the university - had been resolved. The remaining issues hardly constituted sufficient cause for a strike. The agreement should give the governor and his negotiating team confidence that they can resolve issues in negotiations with other unions.
In contrast to the dark mood when Cayetano took office two years ago in the midst of a state fiscal crisis, the governor now feels that the state can afford modest pay increases for government employees. The teachers have grown exasperated with the state's intransigence - they have worked without a contract since June 1995 - but the administration's position has been softening. This is a result of modest increases in state revenues as the economy slowly gains strength.
None of this means that the state can afford to return to its old free-spending ways. The economic recovery is painfully slow and money is still tight at the state Capitol. But the UH contract settlement is a sign of improving times.
With many people in the private sector experiencing hard times as shown by record numbers of bankruptcies and foreclosures, this is no time for extravagant contract demands for state employees. The teachers may deserve a hefty raise, but they may have to settle for less.
Getting off welfare
PRESIDENT Clinton has urged business leaders and community groups to hire welfare recipients to help achieve the goals of welfare reform. The decision to push people off the welfare rolls at the end of arbitrarily decided periods makes it imperative to find other ways to help those in need. But tax breaks for companies that would enable the welfare recipients to take jobs that would otherwise go to the working poor is hardly an ideal solution.
Government should confine itself to educating and training welfare recipients to prepare them for employment. Its attempts to manipulate the labor market may only make matters worse.
A healthy partnership
GOVERNOR Cayetano's goal of making Hawaii a health-care haven took a step toward reality last week with the announcement of a joint venture between the Queen's Medical Center and Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. of Japan. The two companies will build and operate a 32-ring Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanner, which will allow physician assessments of heart disease, stroke, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, heart disease and various forms of cancer without surgery.
The scanner is a coup for the islands and the Pacific rim. It is an encouraging sign that Hawaii could maintain and even enhance its reputation of being the "Health State" into the next century.
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Rupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
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