Union ‘gets the
ball rolling’ to
challenge state’s
pay freeze

By Mary Adamski
Star-Bulletin

The state's largest public employee union has taken the first step toward a court challenge of the two-year pay freeze mandated by the state Legislature.

The Hawaii Government Employees Association yesterday notified the Hawaii Labor Relations Board that it is at an impasse in contract negotiations with the state and counties. It asked the board to issue an impasse declaration covering seven bargaining units representing all its 23,000 members, setting in motion the mediation and arbitration process mandated by law.

"The employers have not taken the step to tell us the wage freeze is there and they will not bargain," said Randy Perreira, deputy director of HGEA. "We expect them to do so now.

"This gets the ball rolling," he said. "We believe we needed to reach the point where they tell us they won't negotiate any further, and that will give us the legal standing to challenge the constitutionality of Act 100."

Legislators in the past session approved the wage freeze through June 2001. They also funded retroactive raises for the HGEA dating back to July 1997, and for the United Public Workers dating back to 1995.

Both measures were initiated by Gov. Ben Cayetano.

Negotiations got started a year ago on an agreement to replace the contract which expired June 30, 1999. The contract was not formally extended, but its terms have continued in effect, Perreira said.

"In the middle of negotiations, the law changed," said Davis Yogi, who took over as the state's chief negotiator in December. "It says we can't talk about this."

Yogi said the law prohibits him from even negotiating a contract that has a zero wage hike because "in the context of bargaining, to get a zero, someone has to give up something."

In its impasse declaration, the HGEA also informed the state that because of the two-year wage freeze, it reserves the right to seek a four-year agreement instead of the customary two-year pact.

Under the collective bargaining law, the government union will not go on strike. The labor board has three days to appoint a mediator. If the impasse continues for 15 working days, the dispute is submitted to arbitration.

The HGEA represents the following employees:

Unit 2, 800 blue-collar supervisors.
Unit 3, 12,342 white-collar nonsupervisors.
Unit 4, 603 white-collar supervisors.
Unit 6, 721 educational officers.
Unit 8, 1,303 administrative, professional and technical employees of University of Hawaii.
Unit 9, 1,194 registered professional nurses.
Unit 13, 6,813 professional and scientific workers.