Two units of the Hawaii Government Employees Association that include about 14,400 public workers have ratified a new two-year contract with the state and counties.

Last week the union halted contract ratification voting for bargaining Units 3 and 4 after HGEA learned negotiators for the Hawaii State Teachers Association won larger across-the-board raises and a larger bonus than HGEA had negotiated for those units.

However, the union resumed bargaining over the weekend, and this week resumed ratification meetings with a neutral recommendation on the latest proposed contract, which union leaders described as "slightly better" than the original proposal.

On Thursday, HGEA announced 73 percent of the Unit 3 members and 72.5 percent of Unit 4 members voted to accept the latest proposal.

"Unit 3 and 4 members work tirelessly every day to provide vital services to make Hawaii a special place to live, work and visit," HGEA Executive Director Randy Perreira said in a written statement Thursday. "The contract achieved the negotiating teams’ main priorities, which were the restoration of the step movement plan and placement of employees on their appropriate step."

Unit 3 includes white-collar government workers, and Unit 4 is made up of white-collar supervisors. Those units include school educational assistants, clerks and secretaries throughout all departments; court bailiffs; highway construction inspectors; 911 operators; and police radio dispatchers, and zoning inspectors.

The new proposed contract that was circulated Monday would award union members either a step movement into a higher pay grade or a $1,500 lump-sum payment on July 1, and another lump-sum payment of $1,200 for all employees the following year.

The proposal would also increase the share of health insurance premiums paid by the state and counties each year of the contract; continue step movements to higher pay grades in the second year of the contract; and provide for a 1.6 percent across-the-board pay increase in 2017.