House panel defers bills
on collective bargaining
Two Lingle administration proposals aimed at easing the impact on state finances when an arbitrator rules in favor of unions on contract disputes appear headed for defeat in the Legislature.
The House Labor Committee deferred the measures indefinitely yesterday.
Labor Chairman Marcus Oshiro said he would defer "until the 12th of never" a proposal that would cap annual pay raises for white-collar government workers at 1.5 percent, if the contract dispute is left to an arbitrator to settle.
Unions still would be allowed to negotiate for higher raises.
Oshiro said the cap would essentially put the collective-bargaining process on autopilot and hamper good-faith bargaining efforts.
"The employer can go sit across the table and sit there all day and twiddle their thumbs until finally they say, 'You know what, I'll go to arbitration and the cap,'" said Oshiro (D, Wahiawa-Poamoho). "It takes both to tango, so both sides need to be involved in the process."
The other measure deferred yesterday would modify the 10 factors that arbitrators must consider when determining awards in contract disputes.
Additional factors the administration wants arbitrators to consider when determining contract awards include:
>> The impact of the additional potential costs if the cost item was applied to all other bargaining units.Oshiro said the 10 factors arbitrators are already asked to consider have proved sufficient in the past.>> The employer's ability to fund the cost item based on applicable constitutional, statutory and county ordinances.
>> A comparison of wages, hours, conditions of employment and overall compensation of private-sector employees in the state.
"If they believe the arbitrator or arbitration panel has violated a law, well, there's a legal remedy -- they should go and challenge it," he said. "But no one has done this."
