No Legal Action By Hawaii Teachers Union — Yet
The Hawaii State Teachers Association has not taken legal against the state yet over the new teachers contract, despite promises on Friday to do so.
The said Tuesday that they have not received any filings from HSTA regarding the state’s decision to announce the terms of a new contract for teachers and implement it without union approval. Going public was a violation of collective bargaining “good faith” requirements, a union representative told us.
The unratified contract, which Gov. Neil Abercrbomie and Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi implemented on July 1, contains a 1.5 percent salary cut and an unspecified number of days of unpaid leave, amounting to a total 5 percent labor savings for the Hawaii Department of Education. Abercrombie said on Friday that union negotiators agreed to the terms, but that it was later rejected by HSTA’s board of directors and not sent to teachers for a vote.
HSTA President Wil Okabe said on Friday that the state’s decision to go forward without teachers’ approval left the union with only one option.
“We are legally challenging the superintendent’s order to unilaterally implement the last, best, and final offer,” Okabe wrote in an email to Civil Beat.
He said he could not go into detail about what legal action the union plans to take, but historically such complaints are taken to the Hawaii Labor Relations Board, which would issue a ruling on whether the employer (Gov. Abercrombie, et al) violated the requirement that all parties negotiate and act in “good faith” during collective bargaining.
Okabe did not respond to an email on Tuesday, but the Labor Relations Board reported they had not received any filing or letter from HSTA as of Tuesday afternoon.
A quiet storm has been brewing over the governor and superintendent’s decision to go public with their terms before an agreement was reached. Many teachers are outraged, but most are keeping their frustration to emails and Facebook posts while they await the union’s next step.
“‎’Closed door negotiations’ may be an outdated policy if the other parties consistently do not hold to it honorably,” on the union’s on Saturday. “It seems as though it just keeps the HSTA members in the dark. Also, the public only recieves (sic) half of the story, providing fuel for their discontent and allowing teachers to continue to be the scapegoats for dissatisfaction of the public education system.”
