IT will hurt and it will not be easy, but Hawaii is getting ready to rethink public worker unions. Hawaii, once known as the most unionized of the 50 states, has seen union membership erode during the last 20 years. Privatization looms
as a major issueWhile the most radical anti-union conservatives are rushing to call for right-to-work laws, the real battleground now being explored is privatizing some of that vast army of state and county public workers.
First up was Bart Kane, state librarian, who, in an attempt to get more public library employees to help the public, farmed out book-buying to a private company.
Kane, who is no stranger to clumsy and costly administrative methods, was blasted by librarians upset as they were told their skills in picking books were no longer needed.
The booking-buying company helped ignite the controversy by charging high prices for lots of cheap books. The reason: Its contract called for it to bill the state for a single price for all books, whatever the cost.
Kane, however, really stunned his workers by going to the mainland to issue a taunt.
In February, at a conference of the American Library Association in Washington, Kane said the library was being undermined by his employees' resistance to change.
The librarians are now holding a no-confidence vote on Kane, who has been state librarian for 15 years.
On one hand the argument appears to be between feather-bedding union members and a knuckle-head administrator, but really it is the opening wedge in taking public work to the private sector.
Interestingly, one of Kane's biggest supporters was an executive assistant in Gov. Ben Cayetano's office who had been brought in to look at reorganization.
Much of the early discussion on privatizing government business was supported and encouraged by Cayetano. Although he never took any giant steps to radically change how government gets its work done, Cayetano supported moving state prisoners to privately run prisons in Texas.
And unlike former governors, Cayetano hasn't run shrieking from the room when someone brings up the subject of privatization.
The question, however, got confused when Hawaii's neighbor island mayors, who must feel like the bottom feeders in Hawaii's political food chain, tried to get private companies to run their landfill operations.
Across the mainland, garbage dumps and landfills have been one of the best targets for privatization. San Diego, for instance, just put its dumps up for sale. Other cities have learned to make their own rubbish plants cut costs, streamline and increase productivity. Just like real businesses.
Here in Hawaii, Gary Rodrigues, UPW union leader and one of the state's most powerful political kingmakers, filed suit against Hawaii County. He won in state Supreme court.
WHEN the neighbor island mayors howled that the ruling would affect all private operations, and drew up lists of things to shut down, Rodrigues reversed his field and now wants a temporary restraining order to halt implementation of the Supreme Court order.
In a meeting that may show the clout Rodrigues wields, Kauai's Mayor Maryanne Kusaka went to UPW headquarters Monday to discuss the situation.
The issues, however, will not go away.
Already there are calls for the Legislature to meet. By next year privatization could be the defining issue for the governor's race.