All employees in Collective Bargaining Unit 05 can download a searchable PDF copy of the CATSA`s Collective Agreement or Contract 2021-23. HSTA is also working with the Hawaii State Department of Education to further change any language related to employee gender (para. B them/her) to be gender neutral. We hope that these changes will soon be completed. Once approved by the BOE, we will update the digital copy, then print it and distribute it to members. These planned additional amendments will not alter any material changes in the intent or interpretation of the Agreement. While this status quo contract leaves much to discuss, we are pleased that the short two-year term will allow hSTA to restart this process in just over a year with the next permanent superintendent. The last time HSTA members were asked to ratify a new treaty was in 2017. Of the approximately 8,000 members who voted, 98% voted for ratification. In addition to these day-to-day impacts, the HSTA bargaining team, with the support of Mediator Tina Marie Littleton of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), helped the employer reach an agreement to meet the deadlines for processing increased state trust fund contributions for July and before our contract expires on June 30. 2021. Hawaii public school teachers agreed to waive built-in wage increases when they approved a new two-year contract that the union official who led the negotiations called “the best we can get.” HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The Hawaii State Teachers` Association has announced that it has ratified a new treaty with the state. The treaty also increases government contributions to workers` health premiums.
Two points that the Hawaii State Teachers` Association has insisted on in its current contract to improve the teacher transfer process and remove gender language from the HSTA contract will be heard by the Hawaii Board of Education at its monthly meeting on Thursday. All this has a direct impact on tariff cost items. The influx of more than $4 billion in federal funding to Hawaii is the only reason we can present you with a contract without a reduction in teachers` base salaries. Given that public schools also received approximately $639 million from this federal relief, we can maintain the additional compensation already included in our contract, such as . B additional salaries for department heads, probation bonuses, sabbaticals and the difference in incentives that are difficult to fill for some complexes if the school board eliminates the differences in shortage. Only 23 percent of eligible members of the Hawaii State Teachers` Association — or 3,148 teachers out of a total of about 13,500 members — voted, but that was enough to ratify the contract, which was struck on May 22 after tense negotiations between the union, the governor`s office, the state Department of Education and the Education Committee. The union added that it would also push to include gender-neutral language in the contract, ensure that all health and safety protocols related to the pandemic comply with federal guidelines, and include additional agreements for state charter schools if necessary. The new contract, which covers July 1, 2021 until June 30, 2023, was negotiated in particularly difficult circumstances given the loss of state revenue related to the pandemic.
Ultimately, teachers` salaries will remain fixed for the next two years. Most of the additional compensation provisions have not been affected. No salary reductions or leave for teachers were taken into account. The 2021-2023 collective agreement of the Hawaii State Teachers` Association has been updated with gender-neutral language. Previous treatises used masculine pronouns in terms of gender types. The coronavirus pandemic has radically changed HSTA`s plan for the 2021 follow-up contract. Our team had to turn around and we all had to organize and stick together with one voice to fend off the governor`s attempts to offset the state`s fiscal problems by cutting tax revenues on the backs of state employees. I would like to thank Chair Corey Rosenlee and the volunteer members of the bargaining team for their flexibility and commitment to the process. They spent hundreds of hours on Zoom and gave their personal time to review countless iterations of proposals and counter-proposals to complete this contract. Eighty-seven percent, or 2,728 of the 3,148 electronic ballots filed, approved the contract with effect from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2023.
One of the challenges of this year`s negotiations, Tui said, is the fact that outgoing Superintendent Christina Kishimoto was barely present at the talks after deciding earlier this year not to ask for a contract extension. We will also continue discussions to modify and improve the current Teacher Assignment and Transfer Program (PTTA) and to include gender-neutral language in the contract. While widespread access to vaccines and improved science to contain the spread of COVID-19 have reduced the health risks to our members, the reality of the state`s bleak financial outlook has made this activity very challenging. Governor Ige took the position early on that bargaining units would receive nothing more than other units. In fact, all unions received an initial proposal for a 9.23% pay cut, from which the employer only recently backed down. The employer then stated that it would only accept standstill contracts without increasing the cost elements. A number of other bargaining units established prior to the LSS have further hardened the employer`s position. “If you keep getting loans, you`ll still get raises,” said Osa Tui Jr., a member of the HSTA bargaining committee and the union`s new president. “Now, in this treaty, no one will go any further.” In a message to members, union representatives pledged to “aggressively advance” the reinstatement of 21 hours of job-related continuing education loans by speaking directly to the Education Committee and the Ministry of Education. The serious and difficult realities at the negotiating table made it one of the most difficult negotiations I have ever been involved in in my 20 years on the HSTA Negotiating Committee. We`ve all been in a constant state of panning over the past year, changing our physical workplaces and changing the way we interact with students through distance, hybrid, simultaneous, and comprehensive face-to-face learning, while trying to keep us, our families and students healthy and safe.
Our 13,500 educators have risen to the challenge in powerful and professional deliverables in the most difficult circumstances. If you have any questions or comments about this proposed settlement agreement, please feel free to contact the team via this Google form, and we will try to contact as many people as possible during Wednesday`s information session. Please note that there are separate fields where you can submit your questions and comments. . In addition, we will continue to monitor the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Hawaii Department of Health and Human Services to ensure that safe practices are in place for our members throughout the duration of the coronavirus pandemic. While school administrators have the opportunity to apply for a new position throughout the year, teachers have a much narrower window of opportunity to do so. This means that they are often in the difficult position of having to give up their current role and reapply to the DOE when a new opportunity arises outside of the so-called “Teacher Assignment and Transfer Program.” The new two-year agreement, which one union representative called “disappointing for many,” will come into effect on July 1. Mahalo to our bargaining team for their hard work to reach an agreement: “The difficult part of this round and four years ago was that both times we negotiated with a (DOE) whose superintendent already had the pink note,” Tui said, referring to Kathryn Matayoshi, the former superintendent. “We expect the next superintendent to be much more involved in the process and we want to work with us.” In addition, the bargaining team will hold a Zoom information session for all employees in Collective Bargaining Unit 05 on Wednesday, May 26 at 4:30 p.m.m.m. Register here for the briefing.
HSTA officials also said they would try to change the system that allows teachers to reapply for a new position within the DOE. Once completed, these credits would increase a teacher`s salary by 1.46%. In the last session, the state legislature decided not to fund the program, which costs $12 million a year. Here`s a message from Paul Daugherty, Chair of the HSTA Negotiations: “With the ratification vote taking place so late in the school year and during the summer, the bargaining team expected teachers to be busy with other things. We appreciate all our teachers who participated and exercised their right to vote to ratify the succession agreement,” said Paul Daugherty, President of HSTA Negotiations and a member of the Kona Chapter. Paul Daugherty, chair of HSTA negotiations and a member of the Kona chapter, said: “With the ratification vote that took place so late in the school year and summer, the negotiating team expected teachers to be busy with other things. We thank all our teachers who participated and exercised their right to vote to ratify the successor agreement. Yes, the deal was disappointing for many, but it was the best we could get during a pandemic and its economic consequences. Mahalo to all those who participated in the ratification. “Yes, the deal was disappointing for many, but it was the best we could get during a pandemic and its economic consequences,” HSTA negotiator Paul Daugherty said in a statement late Wednesday afternoon on the union`s website. .