Fighting the Feds: Wage Freezes

In 1973, teachers were faced with the prospect of a federal wage freeze that would limit public employee wage increases to 5.5 percent, including increments.

Apart from Hawaii's own struggles, on the national front at about this time, officials for the Nixon administration, including the President himself, were wrestling with pressing economic concerns and an increasingly vocal challenge from organized labor. In 1973, teachers were faced with the prospect of a federal wage freeze that would limit public employee wage increases to 5.5 percent, including increments.

Given those parameters, the Internal Revenue Service declared that the recently ratified HSTA contract was in violation of the Federal Wage and Price Stabilization Board standards. It was a blow that the Association was not going to take sitting down.

HSTA moved decisively to address this dramatic development and sent representatives to testify before the Board. In collaboration with the one-million-member National Education Association, and with the aid of Congresswoman Patsy Mink, HSTA sent one of their brightest and surprisingly least experienced members to argue before the Board.

In his second year of teaching, "Probie" Jim Williams, a brash symbol of the Association's remarkable balance between intelligence and passion, was selected to fight the unfair action. Not so surprisingly, Williams proved to be a winner. The Board heard his compelling testimony and voted to rescind the IRS' violation decree. The strikers' hard-fought victory held up against the challenge.

Despite the Association's best efforts to develop a productive relationship with the employer in the mid-70s, the State continued to try to thwart the negotiation process. In 1975, negotiators attempted to eliminate teachers' salary increments from the contract talks entirely. After Association representatives refused to bargain away this crucial contract element, the state legislature passed a law to legally eliminate them.

It was becoming abundantly clear by then that the employer would use this kind of end-run tactic with alarming regularity to achieve their goals away from the bargaining table. This contributed in no small part to the ensuing policy decision that HSTA should become a pro-active player in the political arena.


Professionalism and Education Reform

At this crucial juncture in Association history, the primary focus of teachers' efforts turned from an all-out struggle for basic fair treatment to a much more global approach to improving education, starting with the problems at the roots.

The first major hurdle for HSTA was positioning Hawaii's teachers as a cohesive pro-active force in the collective bargaining arena. Once they had successfully given voice to teachers' fundamental concerns, the Association began generating a series of ever-widening circles of advocacy and action.

The first tumultuous years had passed. Throughout those early struggles, bit-by-bit, HSTA had gained enormous credibility and significant political power. The organization stabilized and began to focus on the health of the community as an important factor in teachers' lives.

With Association staff working to cull teachers' concerns and organize a solid response, teachers to addressed the issues of violence and vandalism in schools, drug abuse and even community-specific projects as the proposed H-Power garbage-to-energy plant planned for a site near Waipahu Elementary school.

At this crucial juncture in Association history, the primary focus of teachers' efforts turned from an all-out struggle for basic fair treatment to a much more global approach to improving education, starting with the problems at the roots.

Aside from political activism, the Association was also becoming increasingly involved in the professionalization of teaching. In 1975 the Association was still fighting to see that teachers were recognized for their full worth.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines professionalism as the demonstration of professional status, methods, character or standards. The Association began to pursue that distinction for teachers in earnest. One element of their plan was the introduction of recognized professional standards for teachers. They introduced a bill before the legislature that would make it a statutory standard. Despite all efforts though, the membership was wary of the innovation and eventually the bill was withdrawn.

Although the bill regarding professional standards was not successful, it opened the door for the Association to begin assembling a cohesive legislative agenda, beginning with the HSTA declaration of The War on Violence. Organized legislative action was the next logical step in the Association's systematic and increasingly influential acquisition of political influence and the Association went after it.


New Legislative Avenues

The HSTA legislative agenda started out simply enough as a "map" of areas where the Association felt the interests of teachers should be directly represented.

What grew out of that initial effort was the statutory framework on education-related issues that we now know as Chapter 19 of the state's Administrative Rules.

Now, through the Association, teachers have an established and respected voice in the public policy making process.

The Association's legislative program went on to translate teacher concerns on such issues as violence and vandalism in schools into practical measures such as House Bill 491, which makes students liable for restitution of damages to school property as a result of vandalism. (An Association survey had previously revealed that, even in 1977, losses due to vandalism in Hawaii schools topped the $1 million mark annually.)

With this single effort, Hawaii's teachers managed to place accountability at the feet of the people responsible for one of the most pervasive problems in our public school system today. This is just one example of the practical value of membership in the Hawaii State Teachers Association. HSTA gives each teacher's single voice the weight of 13,000 others, all speaking in harmony.

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