[ TEACHER STRIKE ]
PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS and university faculty union representatives say they are optimistic negotiations could resume tomorrow or Tuesday to end their statewide strikes, but no meeting times had been set as of last night. Governor and union
far apart with no
meetings plannedBy Diana Leone
Star-Bulletin"Quite frankly, we're astounded that negotiations aren't going on right now," said J. N. Musto, the executive director of the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly.
"This is a crisis in public education and public education is probably the most important thing we do in this state."
Hawaii State Teacher's Union chief negotiator Joan Husted said the governor had indicated Friday there "were some things he wanted to look at. We're waiting for the governor to get done with whatever he's got to get done.
"Neither party wants to go to the table and waste the time," Husted said. "We're still very far apart."
Both Husted and Musto said they expect the strikers to continue to be strong tomorrow, despite the governor's call that strikers are considered on "unauthorized leave" and that the state will not pay its share of the teachers' health insurance.
"The teachers are very angry at the administration's stopping the health fund contribution. We will go to court Monday and challenge that," Husted said.
Musto said the faculty union would also go to court to preserve their benefits even though the university administration has said it will not follow the governor's orders to cut off health insurance payments.
Gov. Ben Cayetano responded with statements through press secretary Kim Murakawa: "We did our best to head off a strike by making several proposals to the unions, but they chose to walk out. It's disingenuous for them to now say that the state is not willing to negotiate.
"Since the walkout, they have not indicated any sincere willingness to move and that's what you need in order to negotiate," Cayetano said. "The state cannot be expected to be the only one making all the concessions."
Regarding the health benefits question, Cayetano said "Taxpayers should not have to foot the bill when public employees choose to stop working. If anyone disagrees and wants to resolve this with legal action, we welcome the courts to provide direction."
Musto spoke at an afternoon press conference called to announce that striking faculty would not block entrance to last night's final men's home volleyball game at Stan Sheriff Center.
The union had said Friday they would discourage people from attending games against University of Alberta Friday and yesterday. "We want to let people coming to the game know we are on strike, but won't try to block the egress of traffic," Musto said.
Faculty are not against sports, Musto said, but "without faculty and academic programs, there wouldn't be athletic programs. They don't exist separate from the institution itself, and we need to make that clear. On the other hand we understand that this is an important night for seniors."
"That's nice of them, gracious of them," responded head volleyball coach Mike Wilton, who estimated that attendance at Friday's game was about 1,000 less than he'd have expected.
>> HSTA Web site
>> UHPA Web site
>> State Web site
>> Governor's strike Web site
>> DOE Web site
