UPW warns of
strike over
Big Isle pay raise
A majority of the Hawaii
By Rod Thompson
County Council may vote
against the increase
Star-BulletinHILO - The state and all four county governments could face a strike by United Public Workers blue-collar workers next year if the Hawaii County Council doesn't approve a $1.7 million pay raise for them, UPW chief Gary Rodrigues says.
Five of the Council's nine members signaled during a Finance Committee meeting yesterday that they would probably vote against the raise because the county doesn't have the money.
Rodrigues told the Council a "no" vote would send the matter back to negotiation. But since the union has no intention of changing its position, an impasse would quickly occur, leading to a strike authorization vote, he said.
The strike would be statewide, since state law requires a uniform contract among all county and state agencies.
Lack of an agreement would also result in the continued delay in implementing automated refuse collection in Honolulu, he said.
"Hawaii County is going to have the pleasure of dumping on Honolulu," he said.
A strike could come this year, but the union would delay it untilmr6 Gary
Rodrigues 1999, Rodrigues said. He declined to say whether it would be conducted while the Legislature is in session.
In a letter to the Council recommending rejection of the raise, Mayor Stephen Yamashiro blamed the Legislature for cutting the county's portion of hotel room tax revenues.
Several Council members agreed. "The Legislature broke the fidelity which they promised," said Councilman John Santangelo.
To make up for the money that the Legislature failed to provide, the Council would have to raise property taxes by $1 for every $1,000 of assessed value, said Councilwoman Bobby Jean Leithead Todd.
"I'm not willing to do that," she said.
"The mainland has had eight straight years of growth and prosperity," said Santangelo. "We've had eight years of the opposite."
The only support for the raise came from Councilman Dominic Yagong, who noted that raises were voted for other unions. "That flies in the face of fairness," he said.
But the Legislature failed to fund those raises. It deferred them, Rodrigues said.
Santangelo questioned whether the raises will be funded next year, as the state faces a projected $230 million shortfall.
Yamashiro was criticized for failing to appear to support his recommendation and for failing to submit a resolution with it, as required by the Hawaii Labor Relations Board.
Chung said Yamashiro will be asked to appear at the next committee meeting in two weeks with a resolution and with his reasons for recommending rejection of the raise.
