THE public employee unions are the problem, the banker said. Will Legislature
go with the unions?He was talking candidly after the interview, but not for attribution about what he considered to be the state's biggest obstacle to progress.
Last year, while surveying local financial leaders about the state's poor economy, my talk with one banker keeps coming back.
Hawaii's first problem, he said, is that the economy is not bad enough to force the state and counties into serious action. Since then, however, the economy has managed to stumble enough for even the most optimistic to realize that today there is no local financial rebound in sight.
Another interview subject, a union official, recalls the problem this way: "The Legislature has got to choose. Does it want to take on the electorate, who generally are upset with public employees or are they going to take on the public unions?"
This year the Legislature really can't waffle and shuffle off the controversy.
No punters are allowed in this game.
The public employees want pay raises. Many of the blue-collar United Public Workers haven't seen their pay rise since 1994 or 1995.
So the Legislature is caught between some impressive downtown financial muscle and the equally powerful public employee unions. It's a classic "lose-lose" situation.
In the last week, the news has only gotten worse.
As the budget talks proceed it has become apparent that the Legislature isn't really going to do anything to achieve an economic change. The tax stimulus plan appears to be left behind as the legislators try now to just settle on a compromise version of the budget that will let them get out of town without turning the entire job over to Gov. Ben Cayetano.
If the Legislature can't draft a budget, they could simply leave and let Cayetano work with the existing budget, cutting and trimming as he and his cabinet see fit. This, of course, would be the largest loss of face ever suffered by the Legislature.
If union pay raises are worrying labor leaders, the very survival of their organizations is of equal concern as the Legislature continues to worry over privatization.
Ironically, Hawaii already has thrown in its support for the concept of a private business running an operation usually reserved for government the schools. With nearly a third of Hawaii youths in private schools it is apparent that Hawaii's citizens are willing to pay extra to get a needed service, in this case education.
And the Legislature already has made privatization a realistic alternative by allowing private nonprofit organizations to contract for social welfare and health functions that would have to be performed by the state and its unionized state workers.
BUT when it comes to actually removing union jobs and, equally important, union members, then the public unions start to remind legislators why "powerful" is the adjective most likely to be attached to UPW and HGEA.
The unions' clout can go only so far, because when election time comes around, they are going to be forced to back their own Democratic incumbents anyway.
Republicans already are urging cutting government; unions won't find many friends there.
For this year's luckless Legislature, the decision still must be made. Will it go with the unions, or will it go against the unions? It appears the decision has already been made to go with the voters.
Richard Borreca reports on Hawaii's politics every Wednesday.
He can be reached by e-mail at rborreca@pixi.com