IF this were a normal time there would be only one thing clouding the minds of our legislators: public employee pay raises. Public employees feel
waning union cloutIf the 76 marched into the waning days of a legislative session without having made good on promised pay raises for public employees, there would be only fear and trembling.
Hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and earthquakes may be uncontrollable forces of nature, but they don't compare with the long-term wrath of a well-organized and loyal union member scorned.
Still, as the members of the HGEA and UPW have learned, we are not living in normal times.
The peril for politicians is not so much that union support will turn against them; most politicians in Hawaii are Democrats and most labor unions are going to support a Democrat in the fall elections.
The problem, however, is that the rank and file are opened up and hurting.
State and county workers feel betrayed.
The biggest pain is felt by the United Public Workers, who despite having one of the state's most powerful political insiders leading them, Gary Rodrigues, are still without a new contract.
While the Hawaii Government Employees Association just wants to get paid for a contract already approved, the UPW workers need both a contract and a pay raise before they can go to the bank.
As the state treasury suffers, the pain spreads to the state's leaders.
To get their pay raise approved, the HGEA says it needs a tax increase. It is willing to talk about cutting funds to private social service agencies, it is willing to approve gambling and today it is waging an all-out telephone and mass media campaign to get the Legislature to raise taxes.
"Increasing the general excise tax is the only way the state will have enough money to fund the pay raises for its employees," Russell Okata, HGEA director, said. "If the state Legislature does not fund the settlements, both the state and the county employees will not get their raises."
Still, the needed tax increase passed the House by only three votes and died in the Senate, where budget leaders Roz Baker and Carol Fukunaga, despite their impeccable labor credentials, still say "no."
On a larger scale, the public employee unions' waning clout is best seen in California this year. There a $20 million campaign is being fought on one side by conservative and business organizations hoping to trim the unions' power, and by California Democrats, long supported by the state's unions.
Proposition 226 would require unions every year to get the written permission of their members before using union dues for political purposes.
CALIFORNIA teachers have put up $3 million to fight the move, while supporters say if they can block the unions in California, they will be able to move forward in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and Oregon.
Back in Hawaii, the unions have the money and the muscle to help candidates, but in this "Just say no to raising taxes" year, unions are just another guest at the table.
Rodrigues and Okata may still enjoy political power at the Legislature, but their members are hurting.
If the rank and file turn that hurt into anger or just decide to vote their dissatisfaction in the fall elections, the result will be a dramatically different Legislature next spring.
Richard Borreca reports on Hawaii's politics every Wednesday.
He can be reached by e-mail at rborreca@pixi.com