Hawaii Teachers Union President Sends Personal Appeal to Abercrombie
The president of Hawaii鈥檚 teachers union is personally calling on Gov. Neil Abercrombie to come to the bargaining table himself to help resolve their contract dispute.
The Wil Okabe on Tuesday sent a last-ditch letter to the governor asking that he cooperate with the union to produce a more acceptable contract.
“I am now appealing to you as Neil 鈥 a person who I know is better able to resolve this matter than those to whom you have delegated too much of your authority,” he wrote.
The letter was first made public by the , which reported that it was posted Wednesday morning on the union’s members-only web page. Civil Beat acquired the letter from an HSTA official.
Teachers and the state have been caught up in a legal wrangle since the governor implemented his 鈥渓ast, best and final鈥 contract offer on July 1 without union approval.
The “last, best” offer includes wage cuts and furlough days. Okabe criticized the governor for blaming the Legislature for the contract problems.
鈥淲hether it was the repeated threats of a 10% wage cut, 800 teacher lay-offs or that 鈥榥asty things鈥 would happen to our working conditions your response is that it would be the Legislature carrying out these threats, not you,鈥 he wrote in the letter. 鈥淕overnor, the Legislature would be powerless to impose these threats without your signature.鈥
In his letter, Okabe asks Abercrombie to act on his “sense of fair play” and compromise with teachers before the first day of school, which is Monday.
“Unfortunately, there is no collective bargaining,” said Beatrice DeRego-Coffield, HSTA grievance representative. “At this point, all I can say is that we’re not done yet,” she said.
The governor’s office as of Wednesday afternoon had not yet received Okabe’s letter even though it was both mailed and faxed, said Donalyn Dela Cruz, the governor’s press secretary.
