Hawaii State AFL-CIO and Hawaii State Teachers Association Announce Affiliation

News Release from AFL-CIO

(Honolulu, December 17, 2013) Today, the Hawaii State AFL-CIO and the Hawaii State Teachers Association (HSTA) publicly announced the affiliations of all 12 HSTA chapters with the state's largest labor federation. Certificates of Affiliation were presented to HSTA at the biennial Hawaii State AFL-CIO Convention on November 14, 2013 where the partnership became official.

In addition to the HSTA's alliance with the National Education Association, the new affiliation with the Hawaii State AFL-CIO will help to strengthen and enhance collective efforts to advocate for the needs of students and their families, educators' and other workers' rights in the workplace.

"A quality education is one of the key ingredients to building a strong local workforce and creating shared prosperity for all of Hawaii's working families," said Hawaii State AFL-CIO President Randy Perreira. "We will continue to build on the success of this new affiliation by working in unity with the members of the HSTA to ensure the ongoing improvement of education in Hawaii for all students."

"The HSTA's priority is to lead and advocate change in our schools to improve the practice of teaching and student learning conditions," said HSTA president, Wil Okabe. "A partnership with the AFL-CIO will allow our 13,500 members an opportunity to work with other union members in the community to promote a shared goal of transforming education in the state of Hawaii."

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Since 1966, the Hawaii State AFL-CIO has used the collective strength of the labor movement in the state to protect and advance the interests of all workers and their families.  It is a voluntary federation of 74 local affiliate unions and councils.

The Hawaii State Teachers Association is the exclusive representative of more than 13,500 public school teachers statewide. As the state affiliate of the more than 3-million-member National Education Association, HSTA represents and supports teachers in collective bargaining, as well as with legislative and professional development issues.