Hawaii United Public Workers Leader Accused Of Misusing Funds
Kalani Werner, who is up for re-election as state director, was put on trial by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees earlier this week.
A top-ranking official of one of Hawaii’s most politically influential unions is facing allegations that he misused union funds, triggering a formal hearing before a panel of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
The case against United Public Workers State Director Kalani Werner marks the second time in four years that a UPW leader has been tried by AFSCME for alleged financial misconduct.
Werner said in an interview Wednesday that he did nothing wrong and is proud of the work he has done during his tenure with the union to ensure financial accountability and transparency.
“At the end of the day it’s about integrity, transparency and doing what’s right for our members and the union,” he said. “I look forward to moving forward with this union and continuing my service as the state director.”
has some 13,000 members, most employed by the state or counties. It and donates money to favored candidates for public office. It also lobbies at the state and county levels.
The charges against Werner were filed by UPW Secretary-Treasurer Valoaga “Junior” Moananu earlier this year.
Moananu said Werner arranged for a severance package worth nearly $50,000 to be paid to former UPW Director of Finance Luther Beck without the required approvals from the union’s state executive board. Beck resigned from his job with UPW in late September 2022.
Werner said in a written statement that the payment was actually a consulting fee and that Beck “continued to work while remaining on salary.”
“As the finance manager, they played a critical role in the organization and were available to assist staff with any questions related to their work in a consultant capacity,” according to Werner’s statement regarding Beck.
But Beck said Wednesday that he was not a consultant to the union after he left his job with UPW.
“That would be brand new news to me,” Beck said. “I had moved on, they had given me a package, and I left, and I’m thankful for that.”
Werner also was accused of instructing a staffer to use a union credit card to book several mainland flights for Werner’s wife — who is not a union member — in 2022. Those flights cost nearly $1,500.
Werner said in his statement that “employees made unauthorized charges with the company credit card for the State Director鈥檚 family member鈥檚 travel on a union trip. Upon discovering the unauthorized
transactions, the State Director immediately reimbursed the union for the expenses.”
In the interview, Werner said that a staffer was supposed to use Werner’s personal credit card to book the flight, but the staffer instead used the union card.
That version of events was disputed by Hauoli Kim, who served as Werner’s executive assistant until she left that job on Nov. 1, 2022. Kim said she was instructed by Werner to book tickets for Werner’s wife on the union credit card, and she did so. Kim said she testified to that effect at the hearing on Monday.
An AFSCME trial officer held the online hearing Monday, with both sides calling witnesses. It was unclear when a decision would be made in the case.
The accusations come at a particularly sensitive time for Werner, who is seeking re-election as state director in union voting for new leadership, which begins Oct. 9. The union has not yet released a complete list of candidates, but at least two UPW members are expected to run against Werner.
Werner worked as a corrections sergeant for the state Department of Public Safety until 2022, and won election as state director that year with support from corrections officers who are represented by UPW.
However, a number of officers have expressed unhappiness in recent months with the years of delay in resolving UPW’s claims for hazard pay for their work in Hawaii’s prisons and jails during the Covid pandemic.
The Hawaii Government Employees Association settled its hazard pay claims with the state earlier this year, and HGEA members who worked during the pandemic are expected to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in back hazard pay pay this fall and next spring.
Moananu, who works as a psychiatric technician at Hawaii State Hospital, said he filed formal charges against Werner after the union’s local executive board refused at a meeting in April to investigate the allegations Moananu was raising.
“I believe that he should be removed from office because of his lack of transparency to our state executive board and to our members about this situation that occurred in 2022, and was brought to light in 2024,” Moananu said Tuesday.
Werner said he does not know why the charges were filed with AFSCME, but if it was done for political reasons as the union election is coming up “that’s sad.”
Dayton Nakanelua, the former longtime leader of UPW, was after a union trial that year. A scathing audit in 2019 faulted the union under Nakanelua’s leadership for poor oversight of spending by union officials and sloppy record keeping.
AFSCME then appointed a temporary administrator for UPW after Nakanelua was removed, and Werner was elected as the new state director in 2022.
UPW became embroiled in a far more famous scandal two decades ago with the federal criminal investigation of politically connected UPW State Director Gary Rodrigues.
Rodrigues was convicted in 2002 of conspiracy, embezzling union money, money laundering and health care fraud. Rodrigues served more than four years in federal prison and also paid $378,000 in restitution to the union.
Werner said in his statement that “over the past few years, we鈥檝e implemented significant safeguards
to ensure financial accountability, transparency, and responsibility across the organization. These
efforts, including a complete overhaul of our business office and stricter financial protocols, have placed
UPW on solid footing moving forward.”
