[ TEACHER STRIKE ]
Public school When the Hawaii State Teachers Association told Laupahoehoe High School math teacher Naomi Seely to walk the picket line, she crossed it.
teachers, faculty
both brace for
extended strikes
HSTA and UPHA press
By Treena Shapiro
the state for new talks
Star-Bulletin
When the state told Seely to teach, she decided to stay home.
"I don't feel that the kids should be used in the middle as a political pawn," Seely said yesterday.
Laupahoehoe, on the Big Island, was to be the first public school to offer limited classes since public school teachers walked off the job Thursday. Seely crossed the picket line on both Thursday and Friday, but after the state ordered her to teach 19 seniors today, she felt it would be better to stay away from the school to protect her students.
"The state and the union are using our children, and that is not right. If I remove myself, then the situation does not occur," she said.
Although Seely said her decision had nothing to do with union pressure, HSTA's chief negotiator, Joan Husted, said that the teachers' position would be strengthened if Laupahoehoe remained closed.
"I think, though it is painful, by keeping all the schools closed, it's still the fastest way to get the parties back to the table and get this settled."
Husted said that she and the state's lead negotiator, Davis Yogi, have had several good conversations, including a face-to-face meeting on Friday night."We're willing to move, but we're not willing to just keep cutting, cutting, cutting until the employer says we've cut enough to reopen negotiations," she said.
This weekend, however, Husted said Yogi had not returned any of her calls, but she hopes to have negotiations reopened today, perhaps with the assistance of a federal mediator.
Seely is disgusted with both parties for letting negotiations lapse since they reached an impasse on Wednesday. "I think the children of this state are worth working around the clock to get this thing settled," she said.
Her ire extends to the University of Hawaii faculty union, which also went on strike Thursday, crippling the state's only public higher-education system. "This is just a big political shibai for the unions and the state because they're messing with our children," she said.
Like HSTA, the UH Professional Assembly has not been able to schedule any negotiation sessions with the state, which has frustrated Executive Director J.N. Musto ever since the two sides failed to reach a settlement on Wednesday.
UHPA is now preparing for an extended strike, which includes securing a $1 million loan from Bank of Hawaii to make interest-free loans to faculty in need, if the strike lasts longer than 10 days.
The union is also seeking another $1 million loan from the National Education Association, Musto said.
Both the teachers and the faculty plan to contest in court what they term "punitive" measures taken by the state.
Because Gov. Ben Cayetano has declared striking teachers and faculty to be on unauthorized leave, the state did not contribute its share to the state's health fund, which could leave all teachers -- striking or not -- uninsured, Husted said.
Although the UH Board of Regents has not complied with the governor's directive, UH faculty face the same predicament, Musto said. In addition, faculty members have been informed that they will not receive paychecks on April 12, and they will have to wait until the end of the month to be paid for work performed on April 2, 3 and 4. "It's another punitive move on their part," Musto said. "They're trying to threaten the faculty, worry the faculty."
The faculty union will file a lawsuit on that issue today.
In Laupahoehoe, senior Korli Ishikawa said she was glad her 19-member senior class would not have to report to school after all. "It's kind of shame, only 20 people in the school," she said.
Although she wants to graduate on time so she can begin beauty college in July, Ishikawa does not want her class singled out. "I think there's no sense of opening the school because it's not fair ... everybody not going to school, and us going to school."
Ishikawa's mother, Blendalynn, a secretary at Laupahoehoe, said she is relieved that the school will not be opening today, both because she supports the teachers and because she was concerned about her daughter having to cross the picket line.
But she does not want her daughter to have to spend extra time in school, catching up for the days missed during the strike. "I just hope this strike ends soon," she said. "I support teachers all the way."
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