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Supreme Court ruling
eases transfers to Kapolei

THE ISSUE The state Supreme Court has ruled that transferring public employees is not subject to collective bargaining.

THE state Supreme Court has eliminated a major obstacle that has made it onerous for the city or state to transfer public employees from one location to another. Such moves are an important element in the plan to move jobs from downtown to Kapolei, allowing the H-1 freeway traffic to flow in both directions during rush hours. The roadblock erected by public employee unions deserved to be removed.

The Hawaii Government Employees Association, the white-collar union for city and state employees, objected seven years ago when the state began scheduling jobs to be moved to a new office tower in Kapolei. The Hawaii Labor Relations Board was sympathetic, ordering that union contracts with the state required "meaningful consultation" before employees could be relocated.

The labor board's determination that state law subjects employee transfers to collective bargaining was wrong. In a case unrelated but applicable to Kapolei transfers, the Supreme Court ruled last week that the city had every right to transfer 10 garbage collectors represented by the blue-collar United Public Workers union from Pearl City to its Honolulu base yard in 2001.

The law allows the city and union to negotiate "procedures" for transfers as long as it doesn't infringe on management's ultimate right to move jobs, the court ruled. The decision can be applied to labor contracts with the state and other county governments.

The unanimous ruling, written by Chief Justice Ronald Moon, came two days after Moon asked the Legislature for $95 million to build its long-awaited Kapolei Court Complex on land offered by Campbell Estate. "We're doing a good thing for the future," Moon said.

The judiciary plans to relocate all Oahu Family Court functions from the Punchbowl Street court building and other locations to the Kapolei complex. Leeward and Central Oahu residents also will be able to obtain traffic abstracts, pay traffic fines, resolve divorce, juvenile and child custody and support issues, and file restraining orders without having to drive downtown.

Mayor Hannemann is enthusiastic about relocating more city jobs to Kapolei, which already houses numerous city, state and federal offices. Hannemann was inaugurated at Kapolei Hale. He pledged during last year's campaign to work at least one day a week at the building and hold Cabinet meetings there.

The city and state should consider many factors -- most importantly convenience to the public -- before deciding which offices to relocate to Kapolei. Concerns by public employees, some of whom now commute from Leeward to downtown, ought to be considered but should not be paramount.