Pact made by state and public workers
Details of the contract are unavailable, but a tentative agreement ends the negotiations
A tentative contract agreement between the state and the United Public Workers union brings an end to the negotiations with unions representing state workers.
Gov. Linda Lingle announced the agreement yesterday.
The lone remaining public-sector negotiation involves the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers, which represents police officers in the four counties. There are no state employees in that bargaining unit, and the state Legislature is not involved in the funding process, Lingle said.
Also, an arbitration process with Hawaii Government Employees Association Bargaining Unit 9, which represents registered professional nurses, was settled late last week, said Marie Laderta, the state's chief negotiator.
Details of the nurses' arbitration were not immediately available yesterday.
A telephone message left after business hours with an HGEA official was not immediately returned.
Terms for the UPW contracts also were unavailable.
Parties involved in the negotiations declined to discuss the deal until after the contracts are ratified by members, the Governor's Office said.
"I believe the members will see that this is a fair settlement that recognizes the important contributions of UPW members," Lingle said in a statement.
The tentative agreement covers:
» Bargaining Unit 1 Blue Collar Non-Supervisory Employees, which has about 9,000 state and county employees, including the Judiciary and the Hawaii Health Systems Corp.
» Bargaining Unit 10 Institutional, Health and Correctional Workers, which has about 2,800 employees.
Lingle said the deal includes custodians, sanitation workers, prison guards, public hospital workers, food service employees and other workers.
The two-year agreement, which would begin July 1, is now in the process of being ratified by members, Lingle said.
Lingle said the parties in the SHOPO negotiations are expected to enter the arbitration phase of bargaining next month.