HSTA Agrees To Withdraw Labor Board Complaint If Members Ratify Contract

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The Hawaii State Teachers Association has vowed to withdraw its labor case against the state if teachers ratify a collective bargaining agreement reached earlier this month.

That would leave a host of questions about collective bargaining law unanswered — such as whether the governor can impose a "last, best and final offer" — but HSTA President Wil Okabe told teachers Tuesday that a contract is better for them than years of legal battles and attorney's fees.

He shared this Tuesday evening at an informational briefing about the new agreement reached between the union and state on Jan. 6. (Read our live blog of the event here.)

The catalyst for that agreement was in part a letter from the U.S. Department of Education chastising the state for its lack of progress on Race to the Top reforms. But, he said, a letter from U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye also played a critical role in getting the two bargaining teams back to the table after a months-long standoff.

The result is a six-year contract that doesn't give teachers much in the short term (it keeps their 5 percent pay cut in place until 2013), but would give them 1 percent annual salary increases in each of the final four years as long as they receive an "effective" rating or better on the new performance evaluation that is being developed. The union can ask to reopen the deal in either 2013 or 2015 to renegotiate the financial terms.

The ratification vote is set for Thursday.

It was impossible to tell from the online webcast of the informational briefing at the Hawaii Convention Center how many teachers were present, but HSTA reported on its Facebook page that more than 2,000 of the state's 12,500 teachers were streaming it on their computers. Civil Beat learned that the crowd at the center was small, under 100.

There were no real surprises in the briefing — just many detailed questions answered for teachers.

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