Labor

Rankings were determined by responses from about 700,000 federal workers from various agencies in the government....

Former Hawaii State Teachers Association (HSTA) President Jim Williams yesterday sent a letter to current HSTA President Wil Okabe asking for clarification on Mr. Okabe’s recent public statements on negotiations....

...The Court’s ruling this morning confirms that the HLRB's determination of when and how to issue a ruling in this case remains in its discretion....

In November, Michigan voters rejected a ballot proposal that would have amended the state constitution to prevent the legislature from passing a right-to-work law and elevated union contracts above state law....It lost by 15 points.

... an advisory committee, including HSTA representatives, to review the new teacher evaluation system ....

“Yesterday, HSTA and the State resumed negotiations. While this is only our second bargaining session, talks were the most productive in months.”

“This argument over what is covered by the contract and what isn’t, is a distraction and a deflection from the real issue - the fact that teachers have been disrespected by the governor.” -- Wil Okabe, HSTA President

If no one is watching, what’s going to happen next will affect the future of public education in Hawaii.... 

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This timely study represents the most comprehensive analysis of American teacher unions’ strength ever conducted....

Oahu lost 4% of its construction jobs while the sister isles gained 27% more constrction jobs.

Hanabusa said she doesn't condone the practice, but will gladly continue to accept all the money and political help that comes from it.

Pro-Rail Pacific Resources Partnership today released its first anti-Cayetano ad for the General Election season....

Democratic FEC commissioners argued that UPW did in fact coerce “employees to participate in the union’s political activities” in violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971....

HSTA President Wil Okabe today released the audio of an August 14 voice mail message from Gov Neil Abercrombie....

As Rail construction continues, Honolulu construction employments continues to drop, losing 1,300 jobs between June, 2011 and June, 2012....

"Is PRP implying that Mazie Hirono who also received illegal contributions did any wrongdoing?" -- Ben Cayetano

According to the Associated General Contractors of America, Hononlulu ranks 272^nd in construction growth, losing 1,400 construction jobs over the past year.

Union members who have been led to believe rail would put them back to work can now see that it simply isn’t happening....

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For months building trades unions and the management-labor Pacific Resources Partnership have been putting union members to work—as pro-rail protesters.

First-class travel. Six-figure salaries for half the 132 officers and staffers. Plenty of plum jobs for family members. Life is good at the top of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers.

...a total of seven employment-based lawsuits against HDOT presently filed in state or federal court, at various stages of litigation, some involving workplace violence in one form or another. Also, there are Workers’ Compensation claims filed as a result of workplace violence at different stages of that process....

Another 600 construction jobs were lost in the Honolulu area between January 2011 and January 2012, a 3 percent decline, according to an analysis released by the Associated General Contractors of America ....

Marugame claims a TSA investigator (TSI) "sexually assaulted her" on Aug. 26, 2009....

... a July 3, 2008 memo from the US Embassy in Mexico—revealed earlier this week with the latest batch of classified Wikileaks documents—shows that the UFW had signed a contract with Global Horizons and was itself looking forwards to becoming a major labor contractor ....

... "We were the only two people in the room so you have to reach your own conclusions."....

“Negotiations via the media are not productive."  -- In other words, Abercrombie should have kept his mouth shut in Hilo....

How could federal prosecutors “accidentally” debase their entire prosecution of crimes alleged to have occurred in 2004 by telling a Federal Grand Jury that the defendants’ collection of “recruitment fees” was a violation of a law which did not take effect until 2008?

Abercrombie gets rolling about 1:30 and keeps on rolling for the next ten minutes.  Starting about 6:50 you can hear Abercrombie's handlers trying to pull him away....

Listen carefully to the nurses in this video. They are ready to dump the HGEA.

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The inevitable failure of DOTax to replicate CGI’s tax collection frenzy should cut revenues by about $27M per year. How many government union jobs will be lost or furloughed due to the bumbling HGEA leaders’ choice of targets?

Progressive Democrat Keneko, and lobbyist Radcliffe sitting around in an “union hall in Kalihi” determining whether Clayton Hee will head DLNR or DHHL.  Will anti-Superferry protester Gary Hooser get a cabinet position?  It is an exercise in self-parody.  The image of the corporatist one-party State could not be any clearer.

In the formally non-partisan winner-take-all race, Kahele, a Democrat, will face former GOP State Rep Bob McDermott, and Democrats Matthew LoPresti and Christopher Lewis.  But Kahele’s chances may hinge on voters, media, and opposing campaigns not having time to do research.  Kahele carries a lot of baggage, including a metaphorical steamer trunk loaded with the fragrant burden of Waimanalo Gulch.

...when it comes to the civil rights violation known as slavery, Neil Abercrombie has remained silent as his key supporters organize and lead the defense of Democratic donors Mike and Alec Sou of Aloun Farms entangled in the "largest human trafficking case in US history."

In an astounding display of amnesia and misplaced sympathy, Hawaii rallied around the defendants. After entering their plea deal, the farmers, Michael and Alec Sou of Aloun Farms, orchestrated an outpouring of letters begging the judge for leniency at sentencing. Business leaders, community activists, politicians — even two former governors, Benjamin Cayetano and John Waihee, and top executives at First Hawaiian Bank — joined a parade attesting to the brothers’ goodness.

The men were paragons of diversified agriculture and wise land use, the letter writers said. They had special vegetable knowledge that nobody else had, and were holding the line against genetically modified crops. If they went to prison, evil developers would pave their farmland. Think of the “trickle down impact,” one woman implored the judge. Besides, their produce was delicious.

THREE MONTHS after Intajak arrived in America, in October 2004, Global Horizons sent him to Hawaii to work for the Maui Pineapple Co. Here, the pay was better than in Yakima—$9.50 an hour—but the conditions were worse. One Global Horizons agent, Intajak and other workers told me, was in the habit of carrying a knife, a gun, or a baseball bat, and of threatening workers with "deportation" if they didn't behave or meet their quotas. Just four days in, Intajak says, he watched the man beat a coworker. 

The Maui Pineapple Co.'s land is nestled among gorgeous foothills, shrouded in mist and covered with volcanic soil the color of dark coffee. The now-defunct company was part of Maui Land & Pineapple Co., whose majority owner is Steve Case, cofounder of AOL; another primary shareholder is eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, a generous benefactor of anti-slavery organizations.... 

The Hawaii Newspaper Guild and the Hawaii Tribune-Herald have signed a contract after nearly six years of negotiations.

The two-year agreement covers all employees at the Hilo newspaper except pressmen, who are covered by a separate contract, and managers. The pressmen's negotiations lasted as long as the Guild's. The contracts are similar.

From question #7:

“HSTA opposes any legislation to provide public funds for tax subsidies (tax credits, tax deductions) or vouchers for private education, religious or home school expenses, or inclusion of vouchers within the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).”

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is headed into a meeting with President Obama this afternoon after the White House and Congressional leaders have begun to discuss a higher-than-expected excise tax on some health care plans, in order to maintain their claim that health care legislation will reduce the deficit, a source involved in health care talks said.  (Those are UNION-negotiated health plans.)

Any unexpected change to the health care plan could endanger support for the bill from labor, which agreed to back it after reductions to the planned excise tax.

Malulani Foundation offers solutions to the very serious problems faced by HHSC and MMMC. Our community can start fresh, with a new hospital and a new vision for healthcare on Maui.

Dr. Ron Kwon started the process for the original Malulani Group to bring a new hospital to Maui and was not successful. Dr. Kwon was very disappointed, left the island and is now affiliated with a major hospital in Boston.

The goal of Malulani Foundation is to bring a private, full service, state of art, 450 bed teaching hospital to Maui which will provide further needed diversity for economy to Maui and a source of jobs for our Maui people.

While Hamamoto said politics were not part of her decision to resign, she spoke out yesterday against a state constitutional amendment proposed by Lingle to make the DOE superintendent a Cabinet-level position, under the governor's control.

"Politics should not be part of what goes on in the school room," Hamamoto said. "The superintendent has to be able to advocate for what is right for the kids. You have to be apolitical in order to advocate for the children. That should be the first priority of a superintendent. The second priority is ensuring organizational stability. How do you ensure stability if teachers and administrators think they will be jerked around every four or eight years?"

Stroudwater didn't pull punches:  "HHSC is in a financially perilous condition. It received a 'Going Concern' finding as part of its 2008 independent audit report, calling the future financial viability of the organization into question. Its liquidity is at dangerously low levels with barely enough current assets to meet current liabilities. It is far behind in its payments to vendors (80+ days). The age of its facilities and other physical assets are well above national averages. Its future viability is at risk, particularly if the State is unable to provide increasing levels of operating subsidies for HHSC going forward."

The Democrats’ electoral strategy for 2010 is an attempt to manufacture chaos knowing it is Lingle who “needs to make the tough call."  Their goal: to replicate the labor-management strife of the Cayetano era—and blame Lingle--so a Democrat can re-take the Governor’s seat in 2010.  Their playthings?  Government employee jobs--and your wallet.

State Government  cannot afford to look or be the same.  We need to find new ways to do the tasks that were once performed.  We want to explore with the Agriculture industry options such as third-party certification, self certification, and random sampling.

To ensure the Kulani facility will be used productively for the benefit of the state and the Big Island community, the Department of Public Safety is currently working with the Hawai‘i Department of Defense (DOD) on a Memorandum of Agreement for the land to be utilized for the DOD’s Hawai‘i National Guard Youth Challenge program.

The Hawai‘i National Guard’s Youth Challenge Academy program provides at-risk students who otherwise would not obtain a high school diploma with an opportunity to attend a 22-week curriculum designed to turn their lives around. Since 1995, over 2,500 students who have participated in the Youth Challenge Academy have earned their High School diplomas.