By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Royal Elementary School fifth-grader Perry Evangelista passes
a picket line of teachers, including Amelia Ouye, left, and Joanne
Hirata, along Punchbowl Street last month.

"We're expecting a very strong turnout and a very strong (yes) vote," said Joan Husted, lead negotiator for the Hawaii State Teachers Association.

More than 11,000 members of the union - teachers, counselors, school librarians, registrars and state and district resource teachers - are to gather on all islands today to vote whether to authorize the first teachers' strike in Hawaii since 1973.

They have worked without a new contract since 1995. The biggest gathering is scheduled on Oahu, where up to 8,000 teachers could fill Blaisdell arena to hear from union leaders before voting.

The results of the statewide vote are to be released late tonight.

Teachers Association spokeswoman Danielle Lum said if the vote passes, union leaders would meet Saturday to set the strike date. Since the union is required to give 10 days' notice, the earliest teachers could walk out would be Feb. 18, she said.

"We're still hopeful. What we're telling our teachers is to hope for the best but prepare for the worst," she said.

The main sticking point is over pay raises and whether to lengthen the school year. Teachers Association President June Motokawa said the two sides are far from settling, and she described the state'scurrent pay-raise offer as "not only unacceptable, but an insult."

The state offered no retroactive pay increase for 1995-96 or 1996-97. For 1997-98, it offered a 4 percent salary increase, plus 2.73 percent to pay for adding five instructional days.

For 1998-99, it offered a 4 percent pay raise, plus 2.66 percent to add five more days. The total of 10 days would be a permanent extension of Hawaii's school calendar, which the Department of Education reported last year was the shortest in the nation.

Earlier in negotiations, the union had sought a 14.4 percent pay increase over the first two years, with no additional work days.

Motokawa said the issue of a longer school year was brought up by the state to divert attention from the salary issue.

"We want to talk about pay increases for the work teachers are doing now," she said.

Board of Education Chairwoman Karen Knudsen declined to discuss details of negotiations, but said that despite the impending strike vote "we're still working and hope very much to avoid a strike. ... We're going to try to resolve this."

The two sides last met on Jan. 30 and are currently comparing cost data to ensure they are using the same figures and methods, according to a recorded message on the Teachers Association negotiations update line.

The union is developing a counterproposal to the state, but has not yet submitted it, it said. Lum said no new meetings are scheduled, but both sides remain on call.

The president of the Hawaii State Parent Teacher Student Association, Peter Amelotte, had one word to describe the impact of a teachers' strike: "Chaos ... that's what it would mean."

"We're very concerned about it, and we hope the governor and the union negotiate in good faith to avoid a strike," Amelotte said.

"We just hope that both sides are looking out for the welfare of our children."

Hawaii's 245 public schools have 188,485 students.