TGI STAFF and ASSOCIATED PRESS Advanced-degree bonuses still in dispute An agreement was reached Wednesday between the state and the state public school teachers union on most of their long-running contract dispute. The two sides agreed to implement nearly all
TGI STAFF and ASSOCIATED PRESS
Advanced-degree bonuses still in dispute
An agreement was reached Wednesday between the state and the state public school teachers union on most of their long-running contract dispute.
The two sides agreed to implement nearly all of the new two-year public school teachers contract, including pay raises. They’ll leave it to the state Labor Relations Board to decide the hotly debated issue of bonus pay, however.
Raises and other benefits in the new contract, reached in April to end a three-week teachers strike, have been held up because of the dispute over a 3 percent bonus for teachers with advanced or professional degrees.
The union claims the agreement was for bonuses in both years of the contract, while the administration insists it was for a single year.
Governor Ben Cayetano said the state will accept whatever decision is made by the labor board. But Hawaii State Teachers Association president Karen Ginoza said a similar promise on the union’s part is still being considered by the union’s attorneys.
“We are confident that we will preval on the remaining issue. Our case is strong,” Ginoza said.
Cayetano said if the board rules “against the state, we’ll live by that. We’ll have to find the money.”
He said he was pleased by the partial settlement because he expects the union will be part of the state’s effort to shore up the state’s economy in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the mainland.
“I think the teachers will be happy to get their raises and other improvements under the contract, so they can focus” on teaching, said Ginoza.
She said the national tragedy from the terrorist attacks on the mainland helped create the climate of cooperation that led to the agreement.
The labor board has scheduled a hearing on the issue for Oct. 22-24, although chairman Brian Nakamura has encouraged the two sides to seek binding arbitration to resolve the dispute.
The delay in giving teachers pay raises and other benefits because of the lingering dispute over bonus pay led to charges by the union that the standoff was hurting recruiting efforts in the face of a teacher shortage.
Ginoza said she hopes the teachers will get their first raises under the new contract in about a month. The raises are expected to be retroactive to the start of the school year.
Danielle Lum, a spokeswoman for the union, said members that union leaders had been in contact with Wednesday were “very, very pleased” that the pay-raise portion of the contract has been finalized.
Associated Press writer Bruce Dunford contributed to this report.
