STATE AND HSTA REACH TENTATIVE AGREEMENT
For Immediate Release: April 24, 2005
HONOLULU - Governor Linda Lingle, the Department of Education (DOE) and the Board of Education (BOE), together with the Hawai`i State Teachers Association (HSTA) announced today that the State and the teachers’ union have reached a tentative two-year contract agreement. Over the next few days, HSTA leaders will explain terms of the contract to their members. If ratified by the membership, the contract would take effect on July 1, 2005, and end on June 30, 2007.
“I want to congratulate the negotiation teams for working to reach an agreement that will help us fulfill our common commitment of keeping teachers in the classroom where they can continue to educate our students,” said Governor Lingle. “I appreciate the collegial nature and mutual respect both parties demonstrated throughout the negotiations, which ensured that everyone remained focused on giving our teachers a reasonable compensation package, while taking into consideration the State’s financial outlook. I am especially happy the students and their teachers will not be distracted or have any interruption of classroom time because of these negotiations.
“The agreement between the State and HSTA is an example of how the negotiation process between unions and government employers is supposed to work. Through open dialogue at the bargaining table, and without being bound by a third-party arbitrator, all the parties were able to reach a fair agreement. The meaningful negotiations that took place, in which there was mutual give-and-take between the parties, would not have been possible under binding arbitration, and would not have resulted in the agreement we have today that is in the best interest of the state education system, the teachers, the students and all the people of our state.”
“We are very happy to have reached agreeable terms with the DOE and the State,” said HSTA President Roger Takabayashi. “We are thankful to Governor Lingle and the DOE for their support of teachers and for working with us to find common ground.
“We believe this is an equitable contract that will benefit all teachers,” Takabayashi continued. “While we still have a ways to go toward completely solving the teacher shortage crisis, this is a critical step along the way.”
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For more information, contact:
Lenny Klompus
Senior Advisor – Communications
Phone: 586-7708
Russell Pang
Chief of Media Relations
Phone: 586-0043
Ken Taira
Chief Negotiator
Phone: 587-6890
Kathleen Watanabe
Director, Dept. of Human Resources Development
Phone: 587-1100
Georgina Kawamura
Director, Budget and Finance
Phone: 586-1518
Stan Shiraki
Deputy Director, Budget and Finance
Phone: 586-1516
