State, counties resume
negotiations with HGEAThe state negotiator says pay
raises are not on the table -- yet
Wage demands were not on the table when negotiations on new contracts covering 23,000 state and county white-collar workers reopened this week, the state's chief negotiator said.
The talks that resumed Monday instead focused on points unique to the various Hawaii Government Employees Association units, said Ted Hong, who heads the state Office of Collective Bargaining.
"We're picking up where we left off back in April," he said.
Gov. Linda Lingle said Tuesday that her administration is working closely with county mayors "as full partners in our discussions and in development of our positions."
While the state and county situations might differ "we'll try to take their opinions into consideration because they're going to have to pay for it," she said.
Lingle declined to comment on the talks or whether the state would agree to any pay increases.
Hong indicated the administration will stand firm against pay hikes that are anywhere close to the 4 percent annual increases in a four-year contract won by county police officers in last week's arbitration award.
"We are, as employers, looking at our revenues. Despite what the Council on Revenues says, that's not money in the bank," he said. "It's kind of like buying something based on what your local soothsayer is saying about your income in a year or so out."
Hong referred to the state Council on Revenues' Sept. 15 forecast that state revenues this fiscal year would be 6.2 percent more than last fiscal year and with similar growth over the next several years.
"People shouldn't take that prediction as real money," Hong said. "We want to see what actual revenues are."
Hong said the bargaining with HGEA is expected to involve meeting two to three days every week this month with talks expected to begin with the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly in November and with the Hawaii State Teachers Association in December or January.
The target is to gain settlements with the unions in time for the 2004 session of the Legislature, which will have to approve funding for any increased costs, Hong said.
With the Legislature this year overriding Lingle's veto of a bill that restored binding arbitration instead of strikes to settle deadlocked HGEA contract disputes, an arbitration award that includes pay raises could be sent to lawmakers.
