Deal made with HGEA on contract

Professional and scientific government workers have reached a tentative agreement with the state on a new four-year contract that includes roughly 11 percent pay raises and step adjustments.

The Hawaii Government Employees Association unit, which represents about 8,100 workers, would receive 4 percent pay raises retroactive to the start of the fiscal year in July, step adjustments starting next July, and 3.5 percent raises in January 2016 and January 2017, sources familiar with the agreement say.

Workers would pay 40 percent of their health insurance premiums, down from 50 percent.

The HGEA, the state’s largest public employee union, would not comment on the tentative agreement, which must be ratified by unit members.

The state also would not comment on the terms and cost of the deal.

“We are pleased to have reached a tentative agreement with the employees of bargaining unit 13,” Louise Kim McCoy, a spokeswoman for Gov. Neil Abercrombie, said in a statement. “We are not at liberty to discuss the terms at this time. Now is the time for union leadership to communicate the agreement to their membership and for the members to proceed with their ratification process.”

The HGEA’s professional and scientific workers unit had rejected a two-year contract offer in April that included roughly 4 percent annual raises. The union reported at the time that 55 percent of the unit voted against the offer. Other HGEA units had previously agreed to similar terms.

The HGEA’s nurses unit and the union’s school principals and educational officers unit have yet to reach new contract agreements.