Teacher goodwill over pact may not win governor votes

Nothing comes easily to the Hawaii State Teachers Association, so teachers should cheer that they are on the way to a new contract.

This comes after two years of working under work rules set by Gov. Neil Abercrombie after the teachers rejected the first contract offer.

Still up in the air are lots of questions about the political impact and whether Abercrombie will win the political support of the influential union.

The teachers union has had a tortured relationship with the last three governors. Former Gov. Ben Cayetano took the toughest stand with the teachers, demanding that the state get something more back in return for pay raises.

Hawaii’s educational institutions, the Department of Education and the University of Hawaii are way past being the elephant in the room; they are more like an entire herd of wooly mammoths that consume more than half of the state’s entire budget.

Past governors have always tried to protect education budgets, to the extent that they would decree that "education is the only item we won’t cut."

Cayetano, however, refused during his second term and the result was a strike by both public school teachers and university professors.

The HSTA had toyed with endorsing Linda Lingle when she first ran for governor in 1998. After the experience with Cayetano in his last years as governor, the union in 2002 declined to support the Democrat, then-Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono, or Lingle.

When Abercrombie ran for governor, the HSTA endorsed him and enthusiastically worked for his election.

Today it is an open question whether the union will dance with him a second time.

Abercrombie hurt his ardent labor support by imposing the management- written labor rules on the HSTA membership, which set a new precedent in state and labor relationships. If there is a strongly contested Democratic primary, labor will have a lot to think about.

Next up for negotiations is the Hawaii Government Employees Association, with more than 40,000 members.

The HGEA is not a fan of Abercrombie and is likely to wait for U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa to decide if she will run for governor before picking a campaign to support. The blue-collar United Public Workers union usually backs the Democrat in the race, but if there are two, it might be a tough choice.

Much of Abercrombie’s union support depends on two things: the results of the ongoing negotiations with the other public unions, especially the HGEA, and the perception of Abercrombie as either a labor friend or foe.

If the other unions are able to get more from the state, and the HSTA contract is seen as the floor and not the ceiling for public workers, then the teachers will feel burned. If Abercrombie holds firm to the HSTA parameters, then the HGEA will have to either go to binding arbitration or figure out ways to improve the deal with side issues.

In 2011, Abercrombie surprised everyone by giving HGEA a "most favored nation clause" that guaranteed that if other unions got a better deal, HGEA would also get the better deal.

So far Abercrombie’s luck has held with strong revenue projections, meaning he is likely to have a lot of state money to toss to the unions.

Then if the unions have a choice, if Hanabusa enters the race, Abercrombie’s decades of union loyalty come into question after his bruising two-year battle with the teachers.

Style points will count and a new contract may not be enough to deliver the union.

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Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser. com.