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Although the state's latest offer is punitive and unacceptable, university faculty union leaders plan to meet this weekend to consider the state's proposal, union Executive Director J.N. Musto said. Protesters take issue
of faculty pay to
UH regentsBy Suzanne Tswei
Star-Bulletin"We want to do everything we can so we don't have to strike," Musto said yesterday during a protest at the Manoa campus of University of Hawaii.
The 3,000 faculty members, working without a contract since June 1999, may walk out at all 10 university campuses as early as April 2 if a tentative contract is not reached. A strike may delay graduation for seniors.
Yesterday's protest drew about 300 faculty members and students who waved signs and chanted loudly, urging the state to reach a fair contract with faculty.
The protest coincided with the Board of Regent's regularly scheduled monthly meeting. The 12-member board is appointed by the governor and oversees the university.
After an open-mike session, more than 100 protesters circled outside the board's meeting room and chanted: "Board of Regents off your ass, we want teachers in the class."
About 30 protesters also piled into the meeting room to voice their concerns. For the most part, the protesters did not disrupt the meeting after university President Kenneth Mortimer asked that the board be allowed to conduct its business.
The board could not address the protesters' concerns because the matter was not placed on the meeting agenda in advance, board officials said. But some board members met with faculty members for an informal discussion afterward.
"We value the faculty very much," said board chairwoman Lily Yao after the discussion. "We are in support of faculty pay raises ... but the details have to be worked out by the negotiating team."
Negotiations have stalled since November on pay-raise and workload issues. The union wants across-the-board pay raises while the state offered only merit raises.
The state's new proposal offers across-the-board raises of 6 percent or 7 percent plus merit raises. But Musto said the state's proposal to pay the faculty over nine months instead of 12 months amounts to a "poison pill" because for three months of the year, faculty would have to pay their own medical insurance premiums and would not get retirement benefits.
"It is unfortunate that Mr. Musto takes that approach because this is a good-faith offer from the state," Gov. Ben Cayetano said.
The nine-month pay schedule is based on the faculty union's stance in court documents, Cayetano said. The union had said that the faculty works for nine months of the year and the pay should be given out for the same period. The pay currently is spread out over 12 months.
"It seems to me there is a lack of credibility here," Cayetano said. "If we are going to resolve our differences with the faculty, then Mr. Musto should be a little more, I think, candid and truthful with not only the faculty but with the public as well."
Musto yesterday charged that the state also was less than candid. Musto said the state emphasized details favorable to the state's position and released the information publicly without giving time for the union to consider the proposal.
Ka Leo O Hawaii
University of Hawaii
