With just about a week to go before Labor Day, Hawaii’s major public worker unions have tied themselves into an amazingly dangerous knot.

It started, as Gov. Neil Abercrombie tells it, when the Hawaii State Teachers Association did not allow teachers to vote on his labor contract offer. The union rejected the offer and the fight was on.

The union has so poorly played its hand that other public unions say the HSTA has "run amok." Both the Hawaii Government Employees Association and the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly fear that HSTA’s intransigence and blundering will pull down much of labor’s bargaining power.

When Abercrombie, the school board and the superintendent of education imposed a "last, best and final offer" on the teachers, it amounted to a new contract for the teachers without the union’s approval and without a vote by the rank and file.

At the time, observers thought it would bring the state and the union back to the bargaining table. Instead the HSTA came up with a clumsy attempt to draw the state into binding arbitration. Binding arb is not covered in state law for teachers and when used with the HGEA rarely helps the state, so of course, the state rejected the HSTA’s ham-handed offer.

"The path and manner in which the HSTA is attempting to resolve this contract dispute is trouble, to say the least," said Randy Perreira, HGEA executive director.

"In taking a position that can jeopardize the future of the collective bargaining law, and attacking their fellow unions, the HSTA has run amok and is in danger of negatively affecting everyone in government employment," Perreira continued in an open letter to his members.

If things don’t go well at the bargaining table and reach an impasse, unions can refuse to work — that is, go on strike to force a better deal. If negotiation is preferable to striking, bargaining without the ability to pull the trigger makes kittens out of labor tigers.

Last year the University of Hawaii tried to impose a "last, best and final offer" on UHPA, but both sides were able to reach an agreement before a court or arbitrator could get in the picture.

Now it appears that HSTA wants first the Hawaii Labor Relations Board and then a state court to decide whether the state can string out collective bargaining, wait for an impasse and the end of the contract, and impose its own contract.

"The specter of having a last, best, final offer imposed on faculty members is still fresh in the minds of UH faculty members," J.N. Musto, UHPA executive director, wrote in a release earlier this month.

Adding to the mix is the state Democratic Party. Its members are debating over whether to jump into the argument and scold Abercrombie for not supporting labor.

"Given that one of the core values of the Democratic Party is its support for workers and unions, it is not surprising that so many Democrats and strong Neil supporters are so very angry, given his arguably antiunion movements," said one party member in an email message to state Democratic Central Committee members.

Having Democrats argue amongst themselves is the natural way of things, but having labor unions hurl insults at each other means this chapter in Hawaii labor history will not end well.

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