Governor girds
for battle with
HGEA over wagesMeanwhile, progress is made in
talks with the UH faculty union
Republican Gov. Linda Lingle is preparing the state administration to fight what she expects to be a costly wage settlement with the 23,000-member Hawaii Government Employees Association.
The state and HGEA are awaiting the expected Monday decision of a three-person arbitration panel.
Meanwhile, Lingle and University of Hawaii Professional Assembly officials reported progress in their talks.
The HGEA -- the state and county white-collar union --- is asking for a two-year contract with yearly 4 percent raises and step increases, while the state wants to give the workers nothing the first year and 1 percent the second.
Lingle said her sources tell her the award will be 50 percent more than what the state offered.
The issue is clouded by the politically charged binding-arbitration process, a law implemented last year when the Democrat-controlled Legislature overrode Lingle's veto of the arbitration bill.
The measure forces the state and the HGEA to go to binding arbitration if the two sides can't reach agreement, a process that Lingle says will always result in a settlement favoring the union.
Yesterday, Randy Perreira, HGEA deputy executive director, said Lingle is using the pending arbitration award "to stir public reaction."
"It is a continuing campaign to discredit the arbitration process," Perreira said.
Lingle said she is trying to round up support from the county mayors and council leaders to reject the arbitrated award. If either the Legislature or a county council refuses to pay for the arbitrated award, the contract must be renegotiated, she said.
Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris said he has already argued that the city cannot afford any pay raise without a resulting tax increase. "I don't think we should be giving raises to city employees when we're having to raise property taxes on commercial, industrial and resort properties," he said.
"We cannot afford to give pay raises at this time and that the Council should simply vote no," Harris said.
Ann Kobayashi, Council Budget Committee chairwoman, said the Council wouldn't act independently.
"We'll be communicating with the other counties so that we have a united front and we can work cooperatively."
Maui County Mayor Alan Arakawa declined to comment on the negotiations but has included in his fiscal 2005 budget money for an anticipated 4 percent wage increase.
About the UHPA talks, Lingle hinted yesterday that a tuition increase after 2006 may be one way to help pay for whatever faculty pay increases are granted.
"I am optimistic today or (the) next day we will reach agreement," said Lingle, whom UHPA backed in the 2002 election.
Unlike other state departments that rely on tax increases to make up a deficit, the University of Hawaii is able to help fund a wage increase by raising its own funds for 3,200 university faculty members, Lingle said.
"They do have some ability to make adjustments to tuition to cover any increases that may come about," she said.
The last public offer from Lingle was a salary hike of 1 percent pro-rated to August 2003 and a second raise of 3 percent in August. The union, however, has publicly said it wanted wage raises of 6 percent and 8 percent.
"They have negotiated in good faith," Lingle said. "It shows that without binding arbitration, the parties have to reach some agreement because nobody wants to go out on strike."
UHPA on March 30 authorized a strike if an agreement could not be reached. The union yesterday declined comment.
Kitty Lagareta, one of two UH regent representatives in collective bargaining, said the salary agreement is not likely to spell out a pay raise involving a a tuition increase.
But, she cautioned, the university is in the bottom 20 percent in terms of tuition across the country and wants to be in the top 20 percent in terms of faculty pay.
"I think the governor is right: There is a large gap between the vision we have and the funding for it," Lagareta.
Star-Bulletin reporter Gary T. Kubota contributed to this report.
