City: All trash
to be picked up
by Saturday

Residents slated to begin
automated pickup should go back
to their old cans

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-Bulletin

Oahu residents who haven't had their trash collected this week and are on automated pickup need to take out those old trash cans and go back to their former pickup schedules starting today, city officials said.

A labor conflict involving the city and the United Public Workers union left some 50,000 homes without pickup service from Monday through yesterday. The city provides refuse pickup to about 150,000 Oahu households.

The city agreed to the union's demand to delay start-up of the latest segment of automated trash pickup, which had been slated to begin this week.

The dispute is affecting the 75,000 homes serviced by the Pearl City, Kapaa and Waianae baseyards. Those served by the Laie, Wahiawa and Honolulu baseyards have not been affected.

Frank Doyle, city refuse division chief, said he's keeping his fingers crossed that all will go smoothly today.

"It's been a difficult situation but everyone's worked hard to overcome it," Doyle said.

City officials at both the Pearl City and Waianae base yards said the trucks were dispatched on schedule and trash was being picked up.

At the Pearl City yard, UPW head Gary Rodrigues also talked briefly with union members as the morning shift began at 5:45 a.m.

Since trash service for affected homes is reverting to the old schedules, when a household's garbage will be picked up is dependent on that schedule, Doyle said.

That means even if trash wasn't picked up Monday, it may not be collected until Saturday if that was the normal pickup day under the manual system.

"Everybody will be collected by Saturday," Doyle said.

City spokeswoman Carol Costa said the best advice for residents who haven't had their trash collected is just to put their trash out.

Unscheduled collections were made sporadically throughout the island the last several days, she said.

Residents confused by the situation are asked to call the city's hot line at 523-4381 between 7:45 a.m. and 8 p.m.

About 800 calls were placed on Tuesday, and 400 on Monday.

"I think the public has certainly been notified," Costa said. "I think the ads and public service announcements, the hot line and the support of the media have done a fine job of alerting the public and making everyone ready for the changeover."

The public began feeling the effects of the dispute on Monday, when 20,000 homes were left without service.

Union officials say they didn't view their agreement to increase automated routes valid and charged the city with reneging on a verbal promise to vote for a pay increase for UPW's city workers.

City officials say the city never made such a promise and that they can't afford the $10 million needed for the increase.

The city has gone to the courts seeking to force the union to comply with the new automated routes.

In turn, UPW leaders have taken their complaint to the state Labor Relations Board.

The view from the labor board Interview with Valri Kunimoto, executive officer of the Hawaii Labor Relations Board: Was the United Public Workers work stoppage this week illegal? That would be a matter of controversy if it came before the board. The law, Chapter 89, doesn't state anything about a permitted work stoppage. It doesn't specifically address work stoppages other than in a strike situation. A strike is a public employee's refusal, in concerted action with others, to work, for the purpose of inducing, influencing, or coercing a change in the conditions, compensation, rights privileges, or obligations of public employment. Does the UPW's action go outside the dispute resolution outlined in law, which includes declaring an impasse and going through fact-finding, before you tell people not to show up at work? They have to file an impasse before they go through mediation and fact-finding. Neither party has filed for an impasse in negotiations. A claim of bad faith and a refusal to bargain charge, which was filed by UPW April 3, would have to be resolved before a filing of an impasse petition. UPW State Director Gary Rodrigues has mentioned "bad-faith bargaining" by the city. But isn't that one of the differences about public sector negotiations, that public employee unions cannot strike over bad-faith bargaining by state or cities? I don't know if that's true or not. It's something the board would address. It all involves any agreements made between UPW and the city. (A hearing with the Hawaii Labor Relations Board is set for April 29 to discuss the complaint.) What did the board decide when UPW's strike in 1979 was eventually declared illegal? It was illegal to the extent that we issued an order designating essential workers for the health and safety of the public. The order wasn't complied with. There was evidence of employees not reporting to work, and UPW received a fine from the court. The union failed to comply with the board's essential worker order and the court order.

---

Police may take overtime
pay issue to court

The union will file suit if the mone
isn't part of the current checks

By Jaymes Song and Rod Ohira
Star-Bulletin

Hawaii's police union plans to sue the city for forcing officers to take compensatory time off, rather than giving them overtime pay.

"State law says that employees who earn overtime are entitled to cash," said HPD Sgt. Richard Wheeler, Oahu chapter chairman of the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers.

The union says state law supersedes a clause written into its original contract agreement with the city, signed in 1973, that states:

"Cash payments for overtime worked shall be made to the extent that funds are budgeted and available for such purpose. If funds are not available, employees shall be credited with compensatory time."

The Honolulu Police Department exhausted its $10 million annual overtime budget in less than eight months and implemented the compensatory-time option on Feb. 18. "We do not believe state law preempts that agreement," said Chris Parsons, first deputy corporation counsel.

The union plans to file a class-action suit next Thursday if officers who filed for paid overtime did not receive it in their paychecks yesterday.

Maj. Gordon Young, commander of HPD's Finance Division, confirmed that no overtime was paid out.

Despite the compensatory-time order, the majority of officers are continuing to request pay for overtime hours on their time sheets, Young said.

"It's a problem," Wheeler said. "It's definitely affecting morale. Their families are suffering, they're suffering, and the public is going to suffer eventually. Bottom line is that they're not being paid what they should be."

The overtime issue has affected patrol coverage.

For example, 14 officers are covering 18 beats in the Waianae district. Before the suspension of paid overtime, the district had 18 officers covering as many beats.

HPD spokeswoman Jean Motoyama said the department is working with the city to try to pay the overtime.

Some officers, however, are getting overtime pay because the monies being used are not city funds. The state is paying for overtime costs for the police unit assigned to Honolulu Airport, while grant money covers overtime costs for some special units, Assistant Chief Barbara Wong said.

The state Department of Transportation and HPD agreed yesterday to a 30-day extension for the 25-officer police unit at the airport. Negotiations to resolve the overtime issue has been continuing since the contract expired in December.