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State to publish In the face of a possible strike by two key public worker unions, the state is trimming its budget and preparing to go public with its wage offers.
wage stance
A four-page brochure will
outline financial positions with
the public worker unionsBy Richard Borreca
and Crystal Kua
Star-BulletinAll state employees and others concerned with union negotiations are being given a four-page brochure on the state's finances and its financial positions with the various public worker unions.
Earlier in the week, Gov. Ben Cayetano called together his Cabinet and told them that according to the existing state wage offers, $55 million would have to be cut from the budget now under consideration by the Legislature.
"We hope that people get the message that there is no pot of gold, there is no hidden money, there is no fund to borrow from," said Davis Yogi, the state's chief collective-bargaining negotiator.
Also, according to Neal Miyahira, state budget director, the $30 million included in the state budget for legislative priorities would also have to be cut.
"We are looking at the budget and what we will have to do to balance it based on our wage offers," Miyahira said.
He said several scenarios were presented to the Cabinet, but it came down to the state having to find extra money.
The new calculations, however, do not take into consideration the wage demands by the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly and the Hawaii State Teachers Association. The state plan is also based on a new, lower pay raise for the Hawaii Government Employees Association.
All that is different from the budget plans moving in the Legislature, where the Senate is looking at stopping an income tax cut that would generate about $150 million to $200 million more.
The House budget does not include any money for state pay raises.
Cayetano and Miyahira are asking state departments to go back through their budgets and consider reducing requests.
The new budget plan represents an increase over what the state was planning to offer public workers back in December, when the settlement offer was about 4 percent and then 5 percent in the last two years of a four-year contract.
The teachers, however, are looking for a 22 percent increase, which over a three-year period would cost $249 million, according to Miyahira.
Teachers are scheduled to take a strike vote next week and could walk off the job the first week in April.
The state budget would be reduced by $2.2 million for every day the teachers are out and the salaries are not being paid, according to Miyahira. Other factors, such as possible unemployment benefits or extending the school year, were not included in the $2.2 million-per-day figure.
The state plans to distribute 13,000 copies of a brochure, "The Facts Behind Union Negotiations -- a look at the issues and numbers faced by Hawaii state government in negotiating contracts with public worker unions."
The brochure sets out the offers made to the HSTA and UHPA and also talks about the yet-unfunded 15 percent arbitrated pay raise for the HGEA.
Yogi said the purpose of the brochure is "to try to explain where we are rather than the rhetoric. These are the facts as we know it."
The brochure also says the money to fund the pay raises will have to come from raising taxes or cutting services.
"To make room for these offers, we're going to cut, and when we make the cut, then people are going to basically see the choices that we have make," Yogi said.
J.N. Musto, UHPA chief negotiator, said he thinks the brochure is not intended to reach collective-bargaining agreements, but rather to pit the public against the public worker unions.
Musto also said that community members have shown support for the faculty union at rallies, including one held yesterday. "It was just wonderful. There were many hundreds of people."
The HSTA has said the state's latest offer does not go far enough to address concerns of teacher recruitment and retention and that the offer is only a restructured version of previous proposals.
Yogi said the state's offer comes close to what the HSTA is demanding.
The HSTA is proposing 10 percent in across-the-board raises and 12 percent in step increases for a total of 22 percent.
The state's offer would raise entry-level pay for teachers from $29,204 to $35,070, or 20 percent, Yogi said.
Teachers at the top of the wage scale -- who do not receive step increases -- would be included in across-the-board raises of 10 percent proposed by the state.
The average pay increase comes to 12 percent under the proposal, Yogi said.
The HGEA said it is in a different situation than the teachers and professors because it already has an arbitrated pay increase, and legislation to fund the award is moving through the Legislature.
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