State costs for A member of the state's negotiating team who was responsible for determining the costs of collective-bargaining proposals said he was told he did not need to figure out the price tag for paying teachers with advance degrees a 3 percent bonus.
teacher bonuses
never calculated,
analyst says
He testifies that he understood
payments would be over 2 yearsBy Crystal Kua
ckua@starbulletin.com"No one on my side ever asked me to cost (the differential)," Gordon Chang, a state budget analyst, told the Hawaii Labor Relations Board yesterday.
Chang also said a $6 million figure cited by the state did not hold much credence to him.
"Until I validate it (the figure), it has no meaning," testified Chang, who works for the state Department of Budget & Finance.
But under cross-examination, Chang, who was called as a witness by the Hawaii State Teachers Association, said he was not present at bargaining sessions that included the governor, during which the state says the $6 million figure for the professional track differential for teachers with master's degrees and professional diplomas was discussed.
Chang's testimony, which came in a hearing to resolve a disagreement between the state and the HSTA, was to illustrate the union's position that state negotiators wanted to limit the bonus to a one-time payment after they realized they had underestimated the cost.
The dispute arose after the teachers union ratified the collective-bargaining agreement that ended a three-week strike last spring.
The state and the HSTA have filed complaints with the Labor Board over the disagreement.
The union says the written contract language is clear that the bonus should be paid during each of the last two years of the contract.
The state, however, says the written language is in error and that it agreed to pay the bonus only in the first school year. The $6 million price tag is evidence of that, the state contends, because that would have been the one-time cost of the proposal.
The state now says the one-year cost would be closer to $9.7 million.
Chang, who has been costing collective-bargaining agreements for the state for 20 years, said that the subject of a one-time payment did not come up during bargaining sessions he attended, nor did the $6 million amount.
He said he was told by Davis Yogi, the state's chief negotiator, that he did not need to figure out the cost of the proposal because the Department of Education was going to pay it from its budget. But he did testify that his understanding of the extra-pay concept for teachers was that it would be handled over two years.
Chang said it was not until after the strike was over that he learned of the state's position.
Chang also said that sometime after the strike he talked to Yogi, who was looking for paperwork from the bargaining sessions.
Yogi asked him what happens if the actual cost comes out higher than an estimate, Chang testified.
"I told him, 'You pay.'"
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