The state expects to make a revised contract proposal next week to the Hawaii State Teachers Association, Gov. Ben Cayetano said Friday. It offers bigger pay raises for new teachers, teachers in shortage areas and for teachers who better themselves,
The state expects to make a revised contract proposal next week to the Hawaii State Teachers Association, Gov. Ben Cayetano said Friday.
It offers bigger pay raises for new teachers, teachers in shortage areas and for teachers who better themselves, he said.
Union leaders have been briefed on the proposal “and are open to it,” Cayetano said, adding the new offer wasn’t spurred by public demonstrations Thursday by teachers.
The governor said Thursday’s mass rally by some 6,000 public school teachers at the state capitol “was an impressive display of unity, but that’s about it.”
“It repeated the message that teachers want pay raises,” Cayetano said. “I hope they will now hear the administration’s message that we can’t pay what they are demanding.”
A similar rally involving more than 500 teachers on Kaua’i was also staged Thursday in Lihu’e, along with other demonstrations statewide by HSTA members.
The new contract offer will be based on an average pay raise of 11 percent, but it won’t be across the board for all teachers, Cayetano said.
All teachers will get a raise, but not all by the same amount, he said.
The teachers have been demanding 22 percent while the state’s initial offer was 9 percent.
