Labor

That might explain why they’re grasping for new members in stunts like unionizing college athletes....

At June 30, 2013, ERS had an “unfunded actuarial accrued liability” of about $8.4 billion. For EUTF, the number was about $18.2 billion....

The federal civil case against Global Horizons has dragged on for years....

Constitutionally, the state can only engage in annual deficit spending as long as there are enough cash reserves to absorb these deficits....

Kobayashi cited examples of physical abuse, exploitation, and barbaric security measures at Maui Pineapple Company's historic pineapple plantations and old worker dormitories where the Thai workers were forced to live and other abuses throughout Hawaii.

The long-term unemployed have problems finding work wherever they are, even in states with the lowest unemployment – Hawaii....

SB 2609 would provide for a gradual increase in the minimum wage with a provision for an unspecified tip credit....

Average of more than 770 jobs losses per congressional district....

FACE said the increase is needed because Hawaii’s utilities are 110 percent higher than the national average, housing is 104 percent higher and groceries are 57 percent higher than other states...

...union membership rate for the state was at the series high of 29.9 percent in 1989, and at the series low of 21.5 percent in 2011....

With SB 2609 moving in Senate, Grassroot Institute says it will fail in its objectives....

NAVFAC and other federal agencies have issued more than 200 similar surveys requesting information about the potential use of PLAs on specific construction projects....

Shhh…keep quiet, or you’ll wake Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius....

Flashback: Senate Ways and Means Chairman David Ige rained rhetorical bombs on the Department of Education for what he called a "Cadillac" system to evaluate teacher performance....

If the legislature is serious about fighting poverty in Hawaii, a broader and more comprehensive discussion is essential....

UHPA has taken a two-pronged approach to preserve faculty rights. In December 2013, the union filed a prohibited practice charge....

...the bottom line is that things might not be what they seem....

The law imposes new costs and mandates on employer sponsors of health and welfare trust funds, but leaves irresponsible companies free of any obligation to contribute towards their employees' health insurance....

Three states had union membership rates over 20.0 percent in 2013: New York (24.4 percent), Alaska (23.1 percent),and Hawaii (22.1 percent)....

The bill also discontinues the requirements for the minimum number of student instructional hours effective at the end of the 2014-2015 school year....

Would this actually help the entry-level workers it is supposed to help? ....

...NOAA has quietly elevated its tsunami warning center in Alaska by relegating its Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii to secondary status....

...alleged victims of homosexual child molestation who give a very clear description of how homosexual child molesters single out and groom boys....

Sound financial management required making tough decisions and hard choices. All with NO furloughs** (this is a lie, Abercrombie continued Furloughs, renamed as DLWOP Days)....

Bumble Bee chief executive Chris Lischewski has called untrue the Delegate’s assertion that Bumble Bee tuna is processed by child labor....

Perry Artates, a former Maui Hawaiian Homeland commissioner and prominent labor leader, will spend 45 days in federal prison for his role in a mortgage fraud case that left a Maui family homeless....

As of January 1, a new tax rule will prevent restaurant workers from collecting automatic tips....

Kathleen Morita was teaching at Hauula Elementary School in September 2007 when a custodian reported the smell of marijuana coming from her classroom. He also reported what he thought was a bottle of wine in a paper bag....

Faleomavaega got caught napping in 2007 and by the time he raced back to Washington in an effort to get us extricated, it was too late....

...7,000 well-paid waiters are being played against 7,000 underpaid dishwashers....

• DATE: Tuesday, January 07, 2014
• TIME: 10 a.m.
• PLACE: Conference Room 229, State Capitol

While expenses have been slowly increasing for health care providers, legislated payment updates have remained flat since 2011....

...BU13 salary schedules reveal a base salary scale which will top out at $148,704....

Hawaii State Teachers Association urges the Legislature to support and fund the following....

Certificates of Affiliation were presented to HSTA at the biennial Hawaii State AFL-CIO Convention on November 14....

Our state’s lower-income families are faced with almost insurmountable structural challenges to escaping poverty....

• DATE: Tuesday, December 17, 2013
• TIME: 10 a.m.
• PLACE: Conference Room 229, State Capitol

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating  the Hawaii State Hospital, hospital administrators have confirmed....

The plan on the table in Congress would raise the federal minimum wage above $10 an hour (which is higher than all existing state rates)....

...informational briefing is to provide the legislature with an update on the ERS’ financial status and actuarial valuation report prepared by Gabriel Roeder Smith and Company....

• DATE: Monday, December 09, 2013
• TIME: 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
• PLACE: Conference Room 229, State Capitol

...a federal construction contract to build Phase 2 of the USARPAC Command and Control Facility at Fort Shafter....

The EEOC named Del Monte Fresh Produce's Hawaii subsidiary, which contracted with Global for approximately three years ending in 2005 to tend pineapple fields the subsidiary leased on the island of Oahu....

The National Weather Service is facing allegations of "waste, fraud and abuse" over the eviction of Pacific Tsunami Warning Center employees from their government housing....

• DATE: Thursday, November 14, 2013
• TIME: 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM
• PLACE: Conference Room 229 State Capitol