Wednesday, October 14, 1998



Civil service
managers torn
between ranks

Managers that come
from the rank-and-file may
be confused about where
their loyalties lie

By Jaymes K. Song
Star-Bulletin

Tapa

In Hawaii's heavily unionized government work force, there's often a blurry distinction between management jobs and the rank-and-file.

For example, certain government managers, like Hawaii's prison wardens, are not appointed but hold civil service positions, meaning they have all the job protections of the rank-and-file. Others, such as the state's deputy education superintendents, are appointed to their posts but have fallback rights to their old positions.

In both cases, officials say, the managers can be torn between their loyalties to their bosses and to the ranks from which they came.

"There are very conflicting interests," said Keith Kaneshiro, former director of the state Department of Public Safety. "They don't advocate managerial philosophy. They may even resist change."

The blurred line between management and rank-and-file may be compounded by the heavy unionization of Hawaii's public work force. For example, of 43,565 employees in the state executive branch as of Dec. 31, 40,085 -- about 92 percent -- were included in bargaining units. (This does not include the state's legislative and judiciary branches, which also employ union members.)

One of the most controversial examples of unionized managers is found in Hawaii's public schools.

Hawaii is one of only a few areas nationally in which school principals are in unions, according the Center for Education Reform in Washington, D.C.

"Union benefits might very well go the opposite direction of the way we want to see people hired, fired and paid," said Jeanne Allen, president of the organization. "If you're a principal and you're not successful in teaching kids, you should be able to be judged on your performance."

Allen said having union security prohibits school officials from judging principals on how well they perform.

"Unless you have individual contracts for people running the schools, it's difficult to hold people accountable," she said.

Russell Okata, executive director of the Hawaii Government Employees Association, said the state is much different than the mainland because principals here have little power in running the schools. "They (the principals) have little say in the policies that the Board of Education implements, the laws the legislature enacts. If they want to have the principals accountable for the performance of the school, they should be willing to decentralize and give power to the principals.

"I fully agree, I think the principal should be the curriculum leader of our system," he added. "But they're not. We have an elected board of education that seems to do what's politically correct and three-fourths of the time they can't get their act together."

The fallback rights that some appointed managers have was highlighted recently when Herman Aizawa resigned as the state schools superintendent after four years and was appointed principal for McKinley Community School for Adults. Aizawa was able to retain his superintendent's salary of $90,041.

Okata says the current fallback system is healthy because it provides career opportunities, encourages people to take a chance at the appointed positions and gives them a chance to go back.

However, critics contend that the system must affect managers decisions because of the possibility of some day rejoining the ranks.

Employers said they have concerns about having civil-service protected managers, such as prison wardens, which may keep them from effectively running their operation or making significant changes.

"They (the wardens) don't execute their managerial responsibility," Kaneshiro said. "They want to be part of the boys."

Union leaders say the ones with civil-service protection still have to perform to a level of satisfaction to the appointed director or else they can be disciplined, reassigned or even fired.

However, several department heads said disciplining or firing a worker is time consuming and difficult.

"We should review all those positions to see whether they should be in the union or not," said House Majority Leader Tom Okamura. "If in the future, we decide they shouldn't be because they are management, then again it should be prospective. Those that are in, remain. But new ones shouldn't be."

The problem prompted House Democrats to introduce a bill, as a part of the House majority package, last session to overhaul the state's collective-bargaining and civil-service laws. The bill, among other issues, clarified who is management. But it failed.

Rep. Ed Case (D, Manoa) says the issue still needs to be resolved. "At some point, you've got to fish or cut bait."



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