by Andrew Walden

As Legislative Conference Committee negotiators close in on a budget agreement, UPW and now HGEA have signed costly tentative labor agreements with the Abercrombie administration. The terms of both agreements are not being released, but some details have leaked. 

The UPW's Thursday agreement and the HGEA's Saturday agreement come on the heels of the HSTA 95% membership ratification of a contract which boosts labor costs by $330M to $370M over its four year term.  KITV reports:

The deal restores a previous 5 percent pay cut and gives teachers a 3 percent raise on top of that in July.  Teachers will get raises of 3 percent and 3.2 percent in following years. 

That's 15% in raises, compounded.

The Star-Advertiser April 20 reports:

Neither (UPW) nor the Abercrombie administration would publicly release details of the agreement Friday evening. However, sources say the UPW's approximately 9,000 state and county workers would receive 2 percent raises in October and then 2 percent raises every six months until the contract expires in 2017.  Workers would also pay a 40 percent share of their health insurance premiums, sources say, down from 50 percent.

That's 17.1% in raises, compounded.

Abercrombie first gave quietly union members 60-40 on health care as a December, 2010 thank-you gift for electing him governor.  The estimated cost of that maneuver was $126M.  Just as these contracts are secret, the original 60-40 giveaway was not publicized until it showed up on the UHPA website in January, 2011.

One day later, the HGEA inked a tentative pact with the Abercrombie administration.  HGEA is going for 8% over two years and then will be back for more in 2015.  Unlike the UPW, HGEA actually sent out a news release:

The Hawaii Government Employees Association (HGEA) today announced that the union’s Unit 2, 3 and 4 negotiating teams, which consist of rank-and-file bargaining unit members, have reached tentative agreements with the state and county government employers for the contract period from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2015.

The terms of the agreements include salary increases of approximately 4 percent each year and a 60 percent/40 percent employer/employee split on the Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund (EUTF) health insurance premium. …

The agreements are subject to ratification vote by the bargaining unit memberships. Statewide ratification meetings will be held on Monday, April 22 through Wednesday, April 24 (ratification meetings on Oahu will begin on Tuesday, April 23).… Voting results are expected the evening of April 24.

Negotiations are still in progress for Units 6, 8 and 13. …

That's not all.  The Star-Advertiser reports: "negotiations for Unit 9, which represents 1,681 registered professional nurses, were recently started, following an arbitration panel decision on the unit’s 2011-2013 contract. "

The legislative deadline for final budget submission is this Friday, April 26.  Did Abercrombie just negotiate away the money for his preschool voucher system and his tax credit giveaways for green energy scammers?  

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Related: $126M Giveaway: Abercrombie quietly boosts spending on Public Employees’ Insurance

Precisely as Predicted: Four of a Kind: UPW, UHPA get big Fat Pay Raise—and HSTA suit could give one to HGEA