Editorials
Friday, July 16, 1999New peace effort is
needed in UlsterFAILURE to agree on terms of disarmament of the Irish Republican Army has destroyed hopes for a peace settlement any time soon in Northern Ireland. Protestants and Catholics had more than a year to reach a compromise on that final issue following ratification of the Good Friday agreement in both Ulster and Ireland. Reviving the peace process may be more difficult as recriminations are hurled from both sides of this three-century-long dispute.The issue: Hopes for a new power-sharing government in Northern Ireland collapsed because of a boycott by Protestant leaders.
While insisting that the IRA agree to a timetable to disarming by May 2000, Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble last month appeared to have dropped his demand that actual disarmament begin before Sinn Fein, the IRA's political arm, be allowed ministerial posts in the new government. However, when it came time to nominate ministers who would lead the new Northern Ireland Assembly, Trimble and his party boycotted the session, rejecting last-minute appeals from British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Under the agreement, ratified overwhelmingly by voters in May 1998, the Assembly was to have received important powers from the British government, which has ruled Northern Ireland since abolishment of the Protestant-dominated parliament in 1972. The power-sharing formula called for the assembly's election of 10 cabinet ministers, including two from Sinn Fein. However, Trimble said he could not tolerate admitting "an active and fully armed terrorist organization into government."
In fact, while the IRA has refused to disarm, it has been less than active, honoring a cease-fire for more than two years. Major Catholic politicians in Ulster promised recently to hold the IRA accountable to a fixed timetable for disarmament consistent with the Good Friday accord. This is essential.
The Unionists' boycott of the session had the effect of blocking the transfer of power over the affairs of Northern Ireland from the British Parliament to the new Northern Ireland Assembly in Belfast. It came on what Blair had set as the absolute deadline for the start-up of the new government.
THE boycott left in shambles what had been the public partnership of Trimble, the first minister of the new parliament, and his deputy, Seamus Mallon of the moderate Catholic Social Democratic and Labor Party. Mallon accused Trimble of "dishonoring the spirit and insulting the principle" of the Good Friday Agreement. He then announced he was resigning and called upon Trimble to do the same.
Blair had warned that failure to form a new government would leave Northern Ireland staring at the "abyss" of its violent past. That is a clear possibility, but it can and should be avoided by renewed efforts to reopen talks embodying the spirit of the Good Friday agreement.
UH faculty pay lag
should be negotiatedA 1997 Hawaii law aimed at delaying payment of state salaries until completion of the work performed was accepted by most public employee unions, but the University of Hawaii faculty union has successfully challenged it in court. Having lost the court case, the state should accept the faculty union president's invitation to include the issue in contract negotiations.
Governor Cayetano asked for the legislation to halt the practice of employees turning in time cards before finishing their work week, based on the anticipation of work to be completed. In many cases, money ended up being paid for vacation and sick leave in excess of the amount to which the employees were entitled. The savings in delaying payments until after the work week had been completed was estimated at $51 million in the first year. In the Department of Public Safety alone, the overpayment totaled nearly $1 million a year.
Most public-employee unions accepted the gradual change to a lag in payments, realizing that layoffs were the alternative, even though the anticipatory payment routine had become an implicit part of the union contracts. Employees for 25 years had been paid at the middle and end of each month for the half-month that had just elapsed. The University of Hawaii Professional Assembly alone challenged the new law, effectively delaying its implementation. Federal Judge Alan Kay agreed with the faculty union, and his ruling has been upheld by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Appellate Judge Barry Silverman wrote that faculty members "have a right to rely on the timely receipt of their paychecks" to avoid "financial embarrassment." However, that is not why the union filed the suit, according to Alex Malahoff, president of the faculty union.
Malahoff says the union challenged the law as "an act of principle" against the state's "dictatorial approach" instead of bringing the issue to the negotiating table.
The state should move to reopen negotiations with the faculty union to promptly adopt the pay system accepted by other public-employee unions. The practice of making payment for work already performed is accepted throughout the private sector and is not too much to ask of university faculty.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited PartnershipRupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
