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Unions,
Cayetano
butt heads
over pay

The governor vows to veto
the HGEA settlement but
says he'll give HSTA's
11,000 teachers a raise

---

By Richard Borreca
Star-Bulletin

Labor relations between the state's major public employee unions and the Cayetano administration are entering a critical phase that could lead to a labor showdown in January.

As the state's nearly 9,000 blue-collar United Public Worker members approved a strike vote Monday, Cayetano said yesterday that he would veto a $200 million arbitration settlement won by the Hawaii Government Employees Association.

And the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly, the UH faculty union, has filed for impasse, saying it can't bargain with the state. An impasse declaration is the first step toward taking a strike vote.

J.N. Musto, UHPA executive director, estimated that his union could strike within 100 days if a settlement isn't reached. UPW would be able to strike at about the same time.

The only union that might make progress is the 11,000-member Hawaii State Teachers Association. Cayetano has said he is willing to offer the teachers a pay raise because of the importance of their jobs. A public union official said Cayetano might make a proposal this week to the teachers. HSTA officials did not return phone calls yesterday.

Cayetano's comments about the HGEA arbitration provoked an immediate reaction from leaders of the 24,000-member white-collar union.

"We believe the Legislature has an obligation to fund the final and binding arbitration. ... The governor has no authority to void the award," said Randy Perreira, HGEA deputy executive director.

He said the union will not bargain the contract again and is not going to accept a lower wage offer.

"At this point we are well past that; we have a valid contract, and the state has an obligation to fund it," he said.

Cayetano, however, said, "Our position on the HGEA award is that it is not legal."

Although he said the state could not afford it, Cayetano was forced by law to send the contract to the Legislature.

But because the Legislature received the contract in the closing days of the session, it did not have time to act on it without extending the legislative session. In the end, the session adjourned without the award being adopted.

The result is that lawmakers have mostly promised the HGEA that the contract would be funded during the 2001 legislative session. Cayetano, however, considers it to be a dead issue because it wasn't adopted last year.

Cayetano wants to start the bargaining over again and is hinting that all public employee unions should get the same wage increase. "There is room for discussion about a salary increase for all the workers, " he said, "but not at that (HGEA) level."

(An arbitration panel awarded HGEA pay raises of 8.7 percent and 5.7 percent in the last two years of a four-year contract.)

"I frankly don't think a strike will be necessary, just like I don't think a strike will be necessary for our teachers," Cayetano said. "If people are going to strike because we can't pay them what they want, it will only be because we can't afford it."

The HGEA gave up the right to strike in return for binding arbitration.

UHPA's Musto, however, said the UH faculty is offering to take pay raises of 3 percent a year in a two-year contract, but the state has refused to offer any money.

"It is not about the state's ability to pay, it is about the state's willingness to pay," he said.

UPW leaders refused to talk to the Star-Bulletin.