The union for public school teachers says contract talks are at a critical point as a deadline for budget legislation looms at the state Capitol.
"In order to fund an agreement for 2013-2015, we must achieve an acceptable tentative agreement for members to ratify by April 26," the Hawaii State Teachers Association wrote in a recent weekly bulletin to members.
Lawmakers will have to file money bills — including House Bill 200, the state budget — for a final reading by midnight that day.
The Department of Education’s current budget request for the fiscal year that starts July 1 does not include additional funding for salary or benefit increases.
Teachers have been working under a "last, best and final offer" the state unilaterally imposed in July 2011 when talks reached an impasse for a 2011-13 contract. That contract, which expires June 30, hit teachers with 5 percent pay cuts and a higher share of health insurance premiums — from a 60-40 split to a 50-50 split.
"The DOE, like all departments, submitted a budget to the Governor’s office which includes the 5 percent restoration on July 1, 2013, and 50-50 in medical benefits," department spokeswoman Donalyn Dela Cruz said in an emailed statement.
As the labor dispute enters its 20th month, the HSTA is calling for teachers to converge on the Capitol on March 14 as part of a mass rally to "clearly demonstrate teachers’ collective desire to end this destructive conflict through a fair and equitable contract settlement now."
The bulletin said that while the union wants to ensure that students have qualified, caring and committed teachers, "the employer must accept its responsibility to provide professional salaries that will recruit the best, brightest and most committed teachers to classrooms in Hawaii."
HSTA President Wil Okabe said a similar rally at the Capitol in late January that drew more than 1,000 teachers had a positive impact on negotiations.
"After that particular rally, everyone started to really concentrate on negotiations, and we felt there was a lot of movement at the bargaining table," Okabe said.
Days before the rally, the state had rejected the union’s proposal of 4 percent across-the-board increases for teachers in each year of a four-year offer. In December the state had offered teachers 2 percent annual increases over two years.
Okabe said Monday that the negotiating teams last met about three weeks ago.
"We’re asking teachers to take a stand in the (March 14) rally to show we’re at a very critical stage in trying to reach a contract deal," he said.
The HSTA memo describes the rally as "our best and possibly last opportunity to achieve a settlement prior to the beginning of next school year without undertaking extraordinary measures."
Asked for examples of such measures, Okabe emphasized that the union’s goal is to reach a fair contract deal.
"When we talk about extraordinary measures, we don’t want to go there until we’ve exhausted every means to get a contract that is equitable and fair," he said.
But he acknowledged that some teachers have been outspoken about their willingness to strike.
"We know that our members are frustrated and angry, and we understand that. At this point we need to be focused so that we can achieve the most positive outcome for our members," he said. "Any decision (to strike) would come from the HSTA board of directors or our negotiations team, and a strike authorization vote would have be held."
The union’s pending prohibited-practice complaint before the Hawaii Labor Relations Board also stands in the way of a potential strike.
A final hearing in that case — which contends the state violated teachers’ collective bargaining rights and acted in bad faith when it imposed the 2011 contract — was conducted nine months ago. Absent a ruing, teachers can’t strike unless the union withdraws its complaint.
