Honolulu to appeal
ruling it owes
UPW $14 million

The move postpones any payment;
also, legislators decline
to cover funding

By Lori Tighe
Star-Bulletin

The city plans to appeal a Hawaii Labor Relations Board ruling forcing it to pay up to $14 million in raises to United Public Workers blue-collar employees.

The board said yesterday that it will rule in favor of UPW in a dispute with the city over a new contract.

"They verified our assumptions: The LRB (Labor Relations Board) is a kangaroo court whose members were hand-selected by Gary Rodrigues," Mayor Jeremy Harris said, referring to the UPW leader. "The city isn't going to be steamrolled."

The union hoped the decision would give lawmakers a chance to put the pay raises in the state budget, according to the city. But "it's a moot point," said Maui Mayor Linda Lingle.

She said, "It's my understanding the Legislature will not fund the UPW contract this year. There's no money."

The UPW had asked the labor board for a preliminary decision. A final decision will be issued when the hearing concludes in the next week or so.

UPW has charged the city with bad-faith bargaining, and accused Harris of reneging on a new contract giving UPW employees up to $14 million in raises. The city insists it never agreed to the raises.

State chief labor negotiator Manabu Kimura, the UPW's lead witness, has refused to testify on additional city questions, upon his attorney's advice.

The labor board filed a motion with Circuit Court yesterday forcing Kimura to testify, said Valri Kunimoto, the board's executive officer.

Harris said he wants to sue Kimura, with the City Council's permission, for $14 million.

"It's unconscionable that the state negotiator would misrepresent the position of the counties, then through his own arrogance attempt to bind us with a contract we have repeatedly said we will not support," Harris said.

City attorneys initially tried to have one of the labor board members excused because of his alleged comment that the board needed to rule on the dispute in time for the Legislature to approve the union's pay raises.

The city must wait for the labor board's written order before it appeals, said Corporation Counsel David Arakawa. "Then we're going to ask for a stay, meaning, until the court decides the city's appeal, the city doesn't have to enforce it.

"There are too many appealable issues in this case."

UPW State Director Rodrigues, his lawyer Herb Takahashi and Kimura refused to comment.

The city's main points of appeal will be that city negotiator Sandra Ebesu never approved the contract, Arakawa said. "In every formal vote, one before and one after the tentative agreement Manabu Kimura signed, she voted no."

Unresolved issues, such as drug-testing, remained when Kimura signed the agreement, apparently thinking he had the city's support, Arakawa said.

The union's lead witness, Kimura, refused to testify whether he represented the neighbor isles at the bargaining table, Arakawa said. Yet the labor board released an "oral indication" yesterday before the hearing ended that it planned to rule in favor of the union.

"There are too many unanswered questions," Arakawa said. "This is not how it usually happens. It's unbelievable to me."

The Legislature didn't set aside money for UPW pay raises in the supplemental budget bill House and Senate conferees signed yesterday: The union won't receive any raise this year from the state.

"Maybe next year, I hope," said House Finance Chairman Calvin Say (D, Palolo).