Contract ratification meetings resumed Monday for two units of the Hawaii Government Employees Association that are considering a proposed new agreement with the state and counties, but at least some union members are still unhappy with the settlement.
The tentative two-year agreement would cover about 14,400 state, city and county workers, and is "slightly better" than a tentative agreement presented to members last week, according to a notice distributed by HGEA to union members.
Union negotiators are taking a neutral position on the new proposed contract, meaning HGEA is leaving it up to its members to decide how they want to proceed.
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.
Unit 3 includes white-collar government workers, and Unit 4 is made up of white-collar supervisors.
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WHAT’S AT STAKE
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.
>> Another lump-sum payment of $1,200 for all employees the following year.
>> An increase in the share of health insurance premiums paid by the state and counties for each year of the new contract.
>> Continued step movements to higher pay grades in the second year of the contract.
>> A 1.6 percent across-the-board pay increase in 2017.
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The new proposed contract that was negotiated over the weekend and 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, would continue step movements to higher pay grades in the second year of the contract and would provide for a 1.6 percent across-the-board pay increase in 2017.
That new package was greeted with dismay by some union members, including Matthew Rittenhouse, an account clerk in the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Rittenhouse said the contract proposal "went from bad to worse" because the latest proposal delays the across-the-board raises for workers until nearly the end of the contract in 2017. And the latest settlement is less generous than the agreements HGEA was able to secure for other units that include nurses and professionals, he said.
"It looks like they went back to the negotiating table, and I don’t think they did as well as they should have," he said. Rittenhouse, 41, said he is a single parent trying to survive on pay that works out to less than $13.50 per hour. Under the proposed contract, he would get a raise in 2017 that would work out to an extra 22 cents an hour.
"That’s just absurd," he said. "Other states have higher minimum wages than I make."
Rittenhouse said he has learned some of his co-workers are paid so little that they are receiving public assistance.
"I love working for the people of Hawaii. I love my role in protecting our islands, but I can’t afford to stay here at the rate HGEA has won for us," Rittenhouse said.
A spokeswoman for HGEA said the union wants to explain the contract proposal to its members before commenting publicly on the package.
HGEA, which is the largest union in the state, said last week that it planned to enter into arbitration to resolve the contract dispute.
