The state’s budget crunch has hit the University of Hawai‘i system. The question now is, “How do we meet the shortfall and still balance the needs of students, faculty and staff?”
UH management last month proposed a “Last Best Final Offer” (LBFO) to the UHPA faculty union to handle some of the budget cutbacks by the state. The proposal included several provisions: a 5 percent salary cut, a payroll lag, and a reduction in the amount of the employer’s contribution to health insurance.
However, this month an overwhelming 86.2 percent of faculty members voted to reject the proposal.
At press time, UHPA representatives planned to meet with management and a federal mediator to discuss their next move.
UH president M.R.C. Greenwood responded in a message to the UH community: “The university is disappointed in the UHPA vote to reject our contract offer. The highest priority of our offer was to protect students. There would be no loss of instructional days and the resulting salary savings would have helped minimize program cuts and layoffs.”
Greenwood added, “We believe our offer was fair and reasonable.”
Prior to the LBFO vote, WCC chancellor Douglas Dykstra said, “The LBFO is something that the faculty is going to have to consider seriously. I don’t know if there’s any more wiggle room. In this time of budgetary deficiency, everybody is inconvenienced.”
However, UHPA associate director Kristeen Hanselman spoke of the unwillingness of UH management to negotiate.
She said, “Over the past year and a half, the UHPA has made numerous suggestions to resolve the state’s budget issue. All of these overtures have been ignored or rejected by the UH administration.”
Letty Colmenares, WCC’s UHPA board representative, added about the negotiations, “The faculty has authorized UHPA to reject the LBFO. Hence, let the renegotiation begin, but with both parties engaging in a two-way bargaining process.
“I personally hope that UHPA and the UH administration will join forces to convince the governor to accept all possible options, including the G.E. tax increase and retirement incentives. In these extraordinarily difficult times, we should be open-minded and supportive of all possible avenues to address the budget shortfall.”
Speaking from an individual faculty’s perspective, religion instructor Sarah Hadmack said, “If we accept the LBFO, then we are expected to do more work for less money, considering that we have record enrollments across the UH system campuses this semester…so I ask, where is the deal?”
On the UH management side, WCC Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services Cliff Togo said, “I think the proposals from the administration have been pretty good. We all need to realize that the whole state is in a hardship right now, and we all need to work towards a solution together.”
Togo said tax revenues from the stateʻs general fund account for three-quarters of WCCʻs operating budget. Student tuition and fees cover only about one-quarter.
He adds, though, that even with scheduled tuition increases a lot of the times general funds do not cover inflationary costs.
Some solutions to compensate for cutbacks in state revenue for the operating budget have already been agreed upon. These include executive pay cuts and energy conservation measures.
Togo said energy-saving measures are especially important for WCC. “Electricity has always been the major cost for the college. We’re doing as much as we can as an institution to conserve energy.”
UHPA executive director J.N. Musto said that if the university attempts to impose a contract, the union would block it through legal challenges or go on strike.
In an earlier story in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Musto was quoted as saying, “We are willing to negotiate a settlement that will address the problems they (university officials) are facing if it meets the needs of the faculty as well.”
now, and we all need to work towards a solution together.”
Togo said tax revenues from the stateʻs general fund account for three-quarters of WCCʻs operating budget. Student tuition and fees cover only about one-quarter.
He adds, though, that even with scheduled tuition increases a lot of the times general funds do not cover inflationary costs.
Some solutions to compensate for cutbacks in state revenue for the operating budget have already been agreed upon. These include executive pay cuts and energy conservation measures.
Togo said energy-saving measures are especially important for WCC. “Electricity has always been the major cost for the college. We’re doing as much as we can as an institution to conserve energy.”
UHPA executive director J.N. Musto said that if the university attempts to impose a contract, the union would block it through legal challenges or go on strike.
In an earlier story in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Musto was quoted as saying, “We are willing to negotiate a settlement that will address the problems they (university officials) are facing if it meets the needs of the faculty as well.”
