[ TEACHER STRIKE ]
Possibility of a Professors on the picket lines at the University of Hawaii-Manoa remained upbeat yesterday.
long strike starts
to worry professors
Some wonder how long
By Treena Shapiro
they can remain positive
Star-BulletinBut some are beginning to wonder how long they can remain positive as the strike heads into its sixth day with no new negotiations.
The state's chief negotiator, Davis Yogi, met with UH administrators yesterday to discuss community college workload and lecturer pay, two issues he said he had expected to disappear in the 11th hour before the strike.
However, the union has said it will not settle unless both are addressed.
Based on yesterday's discussions, "we refined our proposals and will be meeting soon," Yogi said. While not revealing any details of the new proposal, he noted, "The proposal that we made to avert the strike is off the table."
J.N. Musto, executive director of the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly, said he was still waiting to hear when new negotiations would begin. Meanwhile, he said, the faculty's determination is growing, as is their anger.
The few relatively minor incidents that have occurred since Thursday have tended to be instigated by those crossing the picket lines, not those walking it, but Musto said he was not sure how long that would last.
"We're all human beings, and we are trying to do our best to keep that sort of stuff down," he said.
Musto said the union is trying to quell a new tactic taken up by some striking faculty yesterday, a circulating poster featuring the photograph, phone number and salary of a UH-Manoa professor who was proclaimed "scab of the day."
"That was not produced by UHPA, not sanctioned by UHPA, and we've been doing everything to get it off line," he said.
The prospect of a prolonged strike has yet to drive faculty off the picket lines and into the campus.
Credit courses are still being conducted at a minimum, primarily by less-than-half-time lecturers and graduate assistants who are not part of the union.
"There's virtually no change from the first two days," said UH spokesman Jim Manke.
The community colleges yesterday held only about 6 percent of their courses. At UH-Hilo the number rose to 15 percent, and at UH-Manoa, 30 percent.
Manke said it is still too early for the university to make any policy decisions, including canceling the semester, but the administration is looking at it day by day.
On the picket lines, many faculty members said yesterday that they are resigned to staying out for as long as it takes to reach a settlement.
Chemistry professor Randy Larsen said the mood on the picket lines has been disbelief since the strike began on Thursday.
"I think most of us are shocked we're actually standing out here. All of our education and training, and it's come to this. Here we are, walking on a picket line."
But Larsen said everyone seems convinced that striking is the only way to raise public awareness.
"We need to do something to let the people of Hawaii know what is happening to our educational system, and this seems to be the best way to do it," he said.
Picket captain Tom Johnson said the faculty had been frustrated with the erosion of financial and other support for the university even before the current contract negotiations began two years ago, and many faculty are relieved to have finally taken decisive action.
>> HSTA Web site
>> UHPA Web site
>> State Web site
>> Governor's strike Web site
>> DOE Web site
University of Hawaii Professional Assembly President Alexander Malahoff was to lead a march of UH-Hilo faculty members from the Hilo Shopping Center, makai of the university, to the State Office Building at noon today. UH-Hilo faculty
By Rod Thompson
and students to march
Big Island correspondentMalahoff was to deliver a letter to the governor's representative in Hilo, Al "Butch" Castro, in which the faculty expresses concern about the lack of negotiations, said the union's Big Island director, David Miller.
"It is time for you to rise above any ill will you may feel for the faculty," a draft of the letter says. Although the governor has denied it, some faculty members believe that the governor has taken his current position because the union supported Cayetano's Republican opponent, Linda Lingle, in the last election.
The march route is a little more than a half-mile long. All of the striking faculty members and some students are expected to participate, Miller said.
Of 200 Bargaining Unit 7 members at UH-Hilo, 21 are on authorized leave, Miller said. Of the remaining ones, the number crossing the picket line is in dispute.
The UHH administration yesterday said 16 signed in to teach classes, but Miller has been skeptical about that number, saying the union calculates the number is six to 10 people.
Miller yesterday gave College of Arts and Science Dean Stephen Worchel a letter asking for the names of the people signing in to confirm the administration count.
Worchel accepted the letter but said a determination will have to be made whether the sign-in sheet is a public document.
Union officials also plan to meet with Mayor Harry Kim at 1 p.m., Miller said.
Picket captain Ron Gordon said Kim met with students when about 300 of them marched to the state and adjoining county building before the strike. Kim talked then about his sympathy in general for teachers but made no specific mention of professors, Gordon said.
"We probably should ask him what he has done (to support the faculty) or what he would be willing to do," Gordon said.
>> HSTA Web site
>> UHPA Web site
>> State Web site
>> Governor's strike Web site
>> DOE Web site
