Substitutes’ union
clears hurdle

A House panel OKs a bill for on-call
teachers’ bargaining unit

Substitute teachers, whose pay was cut last week while other teachers got a raise, cleared their first legislative hurdle yesterday in their push to form a union.

"Substitute teacher morale is now at its lowest point," Genevieve Chang, who substitutes nearly every day, told legislators. "Subs are becoming so angry about such shabby treatment that they talk of striking or of even quitting their jobs."

The House Labor and Education committees passed House Bill 121, House Draft 1, unanimously after amending it to clarify that it would create a collective-bargaining unit only for substitute teachers. A similar bill was vetoed by Gov. Linda Lingle last year in part because it covered other part-time employees of the Department of Education.

"There is a critical shortage of teachers, and substitute teachers play a vital role," said Labor Chairman Kirk Caldwell (D, Manoa), one of 12 sponsors of the bill. "They need to be supported. They shouldn't be punished for the role they play."

Caldwell said he didn't think substitute teachers would have endured a pay cut if they had been unionized. Substitute teacher pay dropped 6 percent on Jan. 24 to $112.53 per day because of a change in the department's salary classification system, while regular teachers received a 4 percent raise.

Even before their pay was cut, substitute teachers had taken the state to court, claiming they have been underpaid for years. Trial was set for Feb. 28 but is expected to be pushed back.

The substitute teachers' effort to unionize faces some resistance. The Department of Education opposes the bill, even as amended, according to Deputy Superintendent Clayton Fujie. He noted that substitutes work on an "on-call" basis with no guarantee of employment.

Kathleen Watanabe, director of the Department of Human Resources Development, also expressed reservations about the bill.

"Permitting substitute teachers who are hired on a casual basis inclusion in a bargaining unit conveys a greater right than other casual public employees who are excluded from collective bargaining," she told the committee. "I would be concerned about the precedent this would set, and the fiscal impact, for example on the health benefits."

Substitute teachers are a diverse lot, with some filling in for regular teachers on long-term assignments over a period of months, and others teaching just a few days a month. There are 4,300 substitute teachers, about 40 percent of them trained as teachers, including 940 former or retired teachers, according to the Department of Education. Substitutes receive no benefits, an issue that rankles many.

"Why is it every other employer has to provide health benefits for employees who work more than 20 hours, but the DOE is exempt?" asked Salome Sato, a substitute who testified in support of the bill.

"I was initially against a union," she told committee members. "I don't approve of unions. I feel as a substitute I don't have much choice. No one wants to listen to us."

The bill would apply to all substitutes, including those who work less than 20 hours. It does not specify which union would represent the substitutes.

Two separate organizing efforts are under way, one by John Hoff, a Kauai resident who heads the Substitute Teachers Professional Alliance, and one by Jimmy Kuroiwa, an executive board member of the Laborers' International Union, Local 368. The Hawaii State Teachers Association is studying how other states have dealt with the issue, President Roger Takabayashi said yesterday.