Teachers pact long overdue

Only five months after walking away from federal mediation talks to reach a new labor contract, the Hawaii State Teachers Association has decided to renew the effort. This time, the extra attempt must be taken seriously — by all sides — to end what has been a vexingly prolonged stalemate.

Hawaii’s collective bargaining law requires that a statutory impasse is declared by Feb. 1 of a year in which an existing contract is set to expire. At that point, the law allows the parties to enter into mediation, subject to the Hawaii Labor Relations Board, which approved the HSTA request earlier this week.

In July 2011, Gov. Neil Abercrombie unilaterally implemented a "last, best and final" contract offer through June 30, which teachers have been working under but its union has challenged to the state labor board. The terms included 5 percent wage reductions and higher health insurance premiums to avoid layoffs.

What’s added to the confounding situation is that the labor board has yet to rule on the governor’s imposition of the contract after concluding lengthy hearings — now going on nine months without a decision.

The stalemate began more than a year ago, when the union put the administration’s proposal to the ranks, and two-thirds of the teachers turned it down. Last May, the same proposal was put to the nearly two-thirds of teachers who voted online.

However, the administration correctly pointed out that under labor law, the poll was invalid because it had been rejected by the earlier vote.

The teachers’ union agreed last August to the governor’s proposal to utilize the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to bring an end to the impasse, a hopeful sign at that point.

But in walking away from the talks in October, HSTA president Wil Okabe complained that Abercrombie violated ground rules of mediation by issuing a statement to the news media by himself and not jointly with the union. That was a weak excuse for cutting off talks of such importance.

But Abercrombie, in turn, can be faulted for needlessly inflaming an already delicate situation two weeks ago, when he told a group of governors on the mainland that he may again impose a labor contract on teachers if a 2013-15 deal isn’t reached.

Enough already.

Now that the joint statement from the teachers union and the state Department of Education has been made regarding federal mediation, it’s vital to move forward.

This renewal should be a step in the right direction. A second walk away from the table would be ridiculous. An issue in the past mediation was a new system of wages reflecting teacher performance, which was important to maintain a $75 million Race to the Top federal grant reflecting academic growth. That remains a significant issue.

The labor impasse has lasted far too long, has cast a shadow over the school system and must be exasperating for teachers and other employees.

In this gathering at the table, the two sides must make whatever extra efforts necessary to end the ordeal.