Gov. Linda Lingle finished a week's worth of meetings with the heads of Hawaii public sector unions yesterday, but without getting agreement on forestalling talk of wage increases.

In reaction to the latest state budget projection of a $903 million deficit by mid-2011, Lingle called for public workers to scale back wage demands.

Union leaders, however, said they would not agree and said the discussions would continue.

“;We talked about delaying any discussion of any cost increase for the next year,”; Lingle said at a news conference yesterday at the state Capitol. “;While we didn't agree on anything, they were very fruitful meetings, with the unions expressing clear understanding of what our financial situation is and wanting to be part of the solution.”;

Representatives of two of the four unions agreed to talk on the record about the meetings, saying Lingle was not able to exact a promise to forestall wage increases.

Roger Takabayashi, executive director of the Hawaii State Teachers Association, said wages will continue to be part of any collective-bargaining discussion.

Lingle is considering budget cuts of 10, 15 or 20 percent to deal with the impending deficit. For the Department of Education, the middle range of 15 percent would mean slicing $50 million from the budget by 2011.

Takabayashi said cuts like that would amount to the salaries of 400 people.

“;Most of the costs are in salary, so if you cut that much you are talking about a lot of people, because most of the salary is in people,”; Takabayashi said. “;We are not in denial. We know the state is in a tough financial situation.”;

Lingle said the state was not considering layoffs at this time.

The HSTA leader did praise Lingle for saying that “;she would not put a freeze on the hiring of classroom teachers.

“;That is to her credit, because we have quite a few classroom vacancies every year,”; Takabayashi said.

Randy Perreira, the Hawaii Government Employees Association executive director, called his meeting with Lingle “;a briefing session.”;

The HGEA said it would not comment on Lingle's request to hold back on wage increases. Unlike other unions, the HGEA usually takes its wage requests to binding arbitration, where a neutral party decides if the state has the ability to pay.

Lingle said she thinks it is “;realistic to hope”; that unions would not ask for raises.

“;I told them I don't want to waste my time and I don't want to waste your time when I know what the financial situation is, so instead of all of us just wasting a lot of time, why don't we just see how the economy progresses over the next year?”; Lingle said.

Marie Laderta, state human resources development director, said she is planning follow-up meetings with the union heads.

Officials from the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly and the United Public Workers did not respond to request for comments on their talks with Lingle.

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