By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
For the second straight day, many people came home yesterday
o find their trash wasn't picked up.

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Trash pickup
resumes, but dispute
goes on

Some routes will revert
to manual collection as the
city and UPW talk

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-Bulletin

Garbage pickup on Oahu should be back to normal tomorrow, according to officials with the city and the United Public Workers union.

The two sides still have not held formal talks over the dispute that erupted Monday when some 20,000 households were left with full trash containers on their sidewalks.

Managing Director Bob Fishman said the city has agreed to halt new automated pickup routes until its dispute with the union is resolved.

"Starting Thursday, all refuse collection is being planned to return to the pattern we had before one month ago," Fishman said. "So anyone who has had a change in his refuse collection route . . . in the last 30 days . . . will revert back to their earlier routes."

UPW Executive Director Gary Rodrigues said collectors would return to work when the city returns to manual routes.

The dispute, which involves permanent automation for households in three of the island's six pickup districts and a proposed pay increase for city workers, has not been resolved.

"We think what they're doing is illegal," Fishman said.

The managing director said he can't be certain refuse workers will agree to go back to their routines tomorrow since he hasn't been able to talk to Rodrigues.

The city insists that there is no tie between new automation and a bargaining contract. Officials are charging Rodrigues with reneging on the automated routes issue.

"As far as what's motivated Mr. Rodrigues . . . some of that is beyond me," Fishman said.

Rodrigues said it's the city that's reneged.

"We had an agreement," he said. "We have the entire employers' team and ours that were witnesses to all of this. I have been bargaining for 33 years, and this is the first time anybody did this to us."

The city serves about 150,000 Oahu households twice a week. Some 10,000 to 15,000 of 50,000 homes supposed to be serviced yesterday did not have trash picked up, Fishman said. About 20,000 out of 50,000 homes did not have pickup on Monday.

Another 50,000 homes are scheduled for pickup today. At the Waianae base yard this morning, city refuse workers reported that trash was being collected using the schedule and system that had been in place before the March 30 conversion to the automated collection system.

The 75,000 homes serviced by the Pearl City, Kapaa and Waianae base yards are being affected by the dispute.

Another 75,000 homes on Oahu, serviced by the Laie, Wahiawa and Honolulu base yards, have not been affected.

"If they let us do our jobs, we'll do it," Rodrigues said.

Mayor Jeremy Harris, who returned from a trip to Japan yesterday, issued a statement saying he is "extremely disappointed" with the union's position.

Harris said the pay raises would cost $14 million, while automation would save the city $1 million.

City Council Budget Chairman John Henry Felix backs the administration's position. Felix said he does not know where the extra money would come from.

Rodrigues said the city can find $1 million, particularly since three other city worker unions have received pay increases.

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Court, labor board
asked to settle dispute

At the heart of the disagreement is a
2.5 percent pay raise for UPW members

By Lori Tighe
Star-Bulletin

The stink in the trash dispute apparently emanates from a misunderstanding that may well be up to a court and the Hawaii Labor Relations Board to air out.

The United Public Workers union says the city reneged on its pay raise promise, but the city says it never made a promise.

So the union declared its latest agreement for trash automation void, prompting the trash collectors' boycott this week of about 35,000 households.

The city has asked Circuit Court to force the union to abide by their March 2 agreement signed by UPW State Director Gary Rodrigues to expand automated pickup by April 6, saving the city an estimated $1.1 million.

In turn, the union filed a complaint with the Hawaii Labor Relations Board saying the city failed to bargain in good faith, said Valri Kunimoto, executive officer of the board. No date for a hearing has been set yet.

Talking about the pay-raise agreement, Manabu Kimura, the state's chief negotiator, said: "I was led to believe the city went along with the state," which supports the 2.5 percent pay raise for the United Public Workers.

"But the city is disputing that. I cannot speak for the city. At that time, I thought I had the city's backing," he said.

The union may have taken the support of Kimura as a sign of the city's approval of their raises, Kunimoto said.

Rodrigues "sees the two deals tied together like Siamese twins," Kunimoto said.

"The question is whether Kimura had the authority of the city to sign," the tentative agreement on the 2.5 percent raise.

The union said negotiators reached a resolution March 2 involving substantial terms for a new agreement, proposed in part by city and county representatives.

But Kimura did not have the authority to speak for the city, said Chris Parsons, first deputy corporation counsel.

"There was no such agreement . . . As a spokesman, he can't bind us to a decision."

Sandra Ebesu, personnel director who represents the city at the bargaining table, said she believes Kimura misunderstood the process.

"He can only vote on behalf of the state. I don't believe the UPW felt the OCB (Office of Collective Bargaining) had the authority to commit the city. If they did, it would be a grave error," Ebesu said.

Kimura initialed a tentative agreement along with Rodrigues supporting the pay raise. The union submitted a copy of the document to the labor board as evidence suggesting the city supported the pay raise.

The pay raise needs a majority vote, four from the state and one from a county. Rodrigues said he's working on persuading another county to support the contract, making the city's vote moot.

"The city better do something fast before we can come up with a neighbor island agreement," Rodrigues said.

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Star-Bulletin reporter Gordon Y.K. Pang
contributed to this report.