The state responded in its filing saying the union bargained in bad faith, not them, when negotiators said there was a deal and the union board didn’t take it to members for a vote.
When an HSTA retiree representative caught up with the Governor last week on the Big Island, this dialog was posted to YouTube.
"We helped you get elected, we were out there, we supported you, teachers were the first ones who supported you, and now you seem to take an anti-collective-bargaining position," said Wayne Joseph, retired HSTA Hawaii District.
"I think that that’s not true," said Governor Neil Abercrombie.
"I wrote him (Wil Okabe, HSTA President) a letter and wrote you folks a public letter that said why don’t we set the labor board stuff and the legal stuff aside and sit down and do this?" said Governor Abercrombie. "It is the HSTA leadership that says they would rather be in front of the labor board than talk, not me, I‘m ready today. We want to do mediation or whatever it is, are you and I having trouble talking? Wayne Joseph: let’s get back to the table. Governor: I‘m ready."
Taking that exchange as an invitation the HSTA board met Saturday and voted unanimously to support a mediation or arbitration process, and sent a letter the same day to the Governor’s office saying they accepted his offer.
The HSTA President told KHON2: "In the weeks following the state’s premature termination of negotiations we have asked the governor to return to the bargaining table. Last Wednesday the Governor made an offer to begin a neutral third-party process to resolve our outstanding contract issues."
Adding that teachers "expect and deserve that all sides work just as hard in a fair process that achieves a fair result."
The Governor declined comment on whether this or past references to working it out constituted an offer of mediation.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
