Labor

...there is much more that can be done to help ensure that new teachers are “classroom ready.” ...

Given the nature of negotiations, the proposal HSTA took to the table is a starting point and is subject to change....

All Hawaii public school principals will receive enhanced supports and evaluations beginning in the 2013-14 school year under an agreement between the Hawaii State Department of Education (DOE) and the Hawaii Government Employees Association (HGEA)....

“The State informed HSTA that there will be a formal response made at our next bargaining session on January 22."

Approximately four years ago, the Hawaii State Legislature commissioned Stroudwater Associates to evaluate our Hawaii Health System Safety Net Hospitals....

...if every union were to get the same raises and benefits, it would cost the state an extra $1.4 billion beyond the budget....

"Our intent is to work with the DOE to create a successful Educator Effectiveness System that could lend itself to being a model, nationwide.”

"Tesoro does not know what potential buyers might ask of state of Hawaii or federal officials."

We are also cognizant of related 2011 - 13 contract disputes being undertaken by other Hawaii public employee unions, including several ongoing arbitrations....

The managers who made this year’s list of America’s Worst Bosses were named in workplace lawsuits filed by their employees ....

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.