What do you think of the state’s offer of 1 percent bonuses for teachers, instead of pay raises?
-
C. Disagree; must give raise (789 Votes)
-
D. No raise, no bonus (307 Votes)
-
A. Agree; fair (240 Votes)
-
B. OK on bonus, but bit higher (178 Votes)
This is not a scientific poll — results reflect only the opinions of those voting.
28 responses to “What do you think of the state’s offer of 1 percent bonuses for teachers, instead of pay raises?”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Bonuses are better as not being binding
More importantly, when you give raises on top of raises is has a compounded effect. 3% of 100 adds up to 103. NEXT year, same 3% raises will be based on 103 and so on and so on.
Bonuses are better as they do not add to the pension debacle the Nei now has. It would be cheaper for the state to give a yearly bonus to help reduce the pension money pit’s growth.
Workers can use the bonus to fund a ROTH IRA as an additional retirement fund source. Totally free from federal and most state taxes on withdrawal, it can be more tax efficient than a pension.
Bonuses would be taxable and I believe would add to “high-three.” Many employees participate in a deferred compensation investment plan. This is a really good way to go. But, it’s moot. This was only the opening salvo of the contract negotiation season and probably won’t survive the second or third round.
HSTA will delay hoping for a more favorable forecast of our economy about May.
The state’s job is to offer nothing, the union’s job is to ask for everything. That’s why it’s called a negotiation and is not even close to being concluded. The teachers don’t really want to strike but it’s their big bargaining chip.
At a minimum, all raises should have a starting point, after COLA is achieved.
After all, the price of bread will always rise, and a 1% raise, will not buy bread at its previous price.
Generally speaking, a raise would be a nice thing, after the COLA threshold is crossed.
Hawai’i is not a cheap place to live, after World War 1. The Jones Act, saw to that.
The federal government determined that the 2017 COLA for social security is 0.3%. The year before it was 0%.
There are different measures of COLA and the federal government is just one source.
Look to the other sources.
Federal COLA sets the standards for all others. Here is the reference. It does not vary by state as the federal COLA for workers does.
The purpose of the COLA is to ensure that the purchasing power of Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits is not eroded by inflation. It is based on the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) from the third quarter of the last year a COLA was determined to the third quarter of the current year. If there is no increase, there can be no COLA.
The CPI-W is determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the Department of Labor. By law, it is the official measure used by the Social Security Administration to calculate COLAs.
https://www.ssa.gov/cola/
(Thanks guys. This is the kind of civil and reasoned dialogue of which I would like to see more on this forum.)
If the State is hurting for money, why not bonus all Bargaining Units for this Fiscal Year and then start bargaining next year.
I guess they don’t want to bargain for fractional rate increases. They’d rather see more money up front and wait to bargain for a larger increase when the time comes?
I voted no raise, no bonus. Reason, the compensation and benefits are collectively bargained between the HSTA and the State of Hawaii. If the State intends to provide raises and bonuses, then negotiate those items during the collective bargaining process.
Even bigger bonuses, but on merit only.
Merit means exceeding standards. Has yet to happen in any state government agency. Never will.
When is there contract due for renewal ? That is the time for negotiating raises and bonuses
June ’17
Looks like there may not be enough time for a settlement….
A state with a high cost of living and low teacher pay will ultimately get what it pays for. I don’t understand the governor’s actions with regard to teachers and firing the superintendent. What am I missing?
I suspect that the teachers like the governor getting a new DOE head.
She has been doing her utmost to fulfill the state commitments on federal grants by starting new initiatives to evaluate teachers and to incorporate new curricula in concert with new student testing and evaluation.
Teachers just hate these new initiatives even if she is able to meet her goals. These goals have more to do with a broad based program to bring all students up to a standard. Teachers would rather work on more wazoo curricula that impact the better students.
Occasionally I sub and hear that many teachers are frustrated with kids and un-supportive parents that make them look bad by performing poorly in academics and complaining about their kids.
They are probably more frustrated by principals that need to enforce DOE initiatives and don’t really give teachers the kinds of support that they want. It’s no wonder they want more pay and want a change in the DOE because the work is so hard.
The DOE and BOE is being run by Mrs.Ige
From the vote looks like lots of teachers reading the SA this am.
What a joke. Whether deserving or not, the state as usual will eventually cave in and give ALL public unions pay raises. But as usual the state needs to put on a show that they tried their best on not giving pay raises. After all, don’t forget this is Hawaii where public unions play a big role in getting people elected.
Nope… IIRC Gov Abercrombie cut all wages when he came into office. They got their pay restored later with a small increase. Altogether it was a humongous increase but workers didn’t consider the restoration of pay an increase and still complained about the contract.
They forget that due to Republican mismanagement, the state was in bad financial situation and he had to do what he did do. Looks like this may happen at the federal level.
The govt is not a business. There’s going to be a big learning curve for Donald and his appointees.
Bonuses are awarded on basis of extraordinary contribution and should be not awarded as an automatic entitlement. The teacher’s belong to a union and pay terms are spelled in the contract. Liberal entitlements serve no purpose and only cost the taxpayers.
I am tired of teachers complaining that they get less pay than their counterparts on the mainland. All fields of work, all occupations …………lawyer, doctor, graphic artist, sales account exec, engineers, athletic coaches, etc. ……….all earn less in Hawaii than their counterparts on the mainland. This is not a situation exclusive to the teaching profession. So they should stop being a cry baby. If they want to earn more, then move to the mainland. If you want to live in Hawaii, then learn to accept it and live within your means. Many other people who work for private industries learn to live within their means as they don’t have any unions to demand higher pay for them.
The pie is only one size, so if you move money for pay raises, then another must have to take a cutback. Difficult situation.