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Teachers set As a senior at McKinley High School, Geary Mizuno watched as thousands of public schoolteachers walked off the job in April 1973, in the nation's first statewide teachers' strike.
to march on
state Capitol
'We really need the public to
help move negotiations to completion,'
the HSTA president says
of today's rallyPanel OKs HGEA raise
By Crystal Kua
Star-Bulletin"A lot of them you looked up to; a lot of them were your mentors," Mizuno recalled.
Living in turbulent times with anti-war protests fresh in people's mind, this son of a union shop steward grappled with issues most teens his age were apathetic about -- should he or shouldn't he cross the picket line to go to school?
"The strike, as an overall event, was important," said Mizuno, now 45 and an attorney with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in Washington, D.C. "It's something that was part of your psyche. Overall, it had an impact on my life in terms of the way I evaluated the issues -- it was a move from being idealistic to being more realistic."
And just as teachers and a student group including Mizuno marched on the state Capitol in 1973 to get a contract settlement so teachers could return to the classrooms, the teachers of today are planning to do the same to prevent a strike.
Wearing green and white T-shirts that say, "Teachers Stand Together," members of the Hawaii State Teachers Association were to rally this afternoon at the state Capitol, aiming to bring together 5,000 Oahu public schoolteachers and other supporters to bend the ear of the powers-that-be and the public.
"By coming together, we get energy from each other to help to communicate to the public that we are united in our desire for a good education system," HSTA president Karen Ginoza said. "We really need the public to help move negotiations to completion."
Teachers on the neighbor islands were also expected to show solidarity with sign holdings and similar events.
An impasse has been declared in talks between the state and the union representing nearly 12,000 teachers.
Teachers can take a strike vote any time during the current 60-day cooling-off period. A strike could occur as early as the end of March, just after spring break.
Pay is the main issue. The union has been asking for a 22 percent across-the-board raise and step increases. The state has offered $3,700, or an average 9 percent raise, although Gov. Ben Cayetano has indicated he is willing to go as high as 11 percent.
The public has been generally supportive of a teachers' raise, especially in light of a teachers' shortage in the state, Ginoza said. "I think people are recognizing the need of the salaries to recruit and retain teachers."
Students are worried about completing the school year on time, and teachers have field trips scheduled around the possible strike time.
"It's a disruption of the normal activities for students as well as teachers," Ginoza said.
Those are the kinds of concerns Mizuno heard when he was a student living through the strike.
"There was all this talk going on at the time that we wouldn't graduate," Mizuno said.
An honor student and student council vice president, Mizuno's internal conflicts had less to do with academics and more with his family's pro-union sentiment at the time. His father was a city recreations specialist who was a Hawaii Government Employees Association shop steward.
Should he cross the picket line? Should he go to school?
"I don't think you ever come to terms with something like that," Mizuno said.
He did decide to "go to school" but after reporting in, ended up going to Ala Moana instead because there were no teachers in the classrooms.
On April 10, 1973, about a week before the strike was settled, Mizuno and other members of the Hawaii Student Body Association addressed a crowd of 2,000 at the state Capitol about the same time as teachers.
"The student association decided to get involved to have our rally -- to have our say to the teachers, the union, the Legislature and to the department (of education) -- 'Hey, while we recognize money is an issue, let us see what's the best thing for the system, for the students,' " Mizuno said.
The strike changed his pro-union beliefs, Mizuno said. "I don't think the teachers won the (public relations) battle entirely."
The teachers hope public relations will be on their side today.
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