When she returned from China on November 15, the governor committed to using the Rainy Day Fund to eliminate furloughs and authorized the Board of Education to negotiate an arrangement with the HSTA to do so. Then, after the agreement was reached and approved, Lingle and Laderta repudiated their previous commitment and authorization. As far as the HSTA is concerned, the agreement is final and binding on all parties to the negotiating process. For supplemental agreements, such as this, the employer is the Board of Education only.

"Now, we are going to the Labor Relations Board to hold this administration to its commitment. We have taken this step reluctantly," said HSTA President Wil Okabe. "But we have exhausted all other means of getting the governor to live up to her commitment and responsibilities. It is painfully obvious to everyone that there will be no solution to furlough Fridays until the governor demonstrates the kind of flexibility already shown by the BOE, the DOE, the Legislature, and the HSTA." In its complaint, the HSTA is asking the Hawaii Labor Relations Board to order declaratory, injunctive, and affirmative relief in accordance with Section 377-9(d), HRS, including but not limited to (a) make whole relief and remedies to affected state employees and HSTA, (b) issue a cease and desist order against Lingle and Laderta, (c) assess costs and attorney's fees against Lingle and Laderta, (d) impose sanctions and penalties against respondents for willful and repetitive violations of employee rights, and (e) provide other appropriate relief.

The HSTA has numerous concerns with the administration's behavior.

• The governor has failed to bargain in good faith, ignoring proposals from the other parties and refusing to come to the table to discuss them or present her own ideas to the other parties;
• Instead of coming to the table, the governor convened meetings with reporters to announce a plan she never discussed with any of the parties at the table;
• She refused to provide information essential to negotiating an end to the furloughs;
• She engaged in regressive bargaining by presenting offers to the news media that went back on prior offers, unilaterally changing her criteria without explanation;
• She established conditions she knew in advance were unworkable and would be unacceptable to the other parties, with regard to cost and damage to the quality of education, such as insufficient staffing and absence of planning time; and
• She has never justified her refusal to seriously discuss changes to her proposal, while the parties other than the governor have shown tremendous flexibility.

Okabe added, "The HSTA and its members have made repeated efforts to work with the governor to reduce the impact of the furloughs and increase instructional time for students. First, teachers agreed to do their part to help get the state through the economic crisis, by agreeing to a contract in which they take home $500 less per month on average. They made every effort to lessen the impact of the furloughs on their students. At 184 schools, teachers voted to convert planning days to instructional days and spend more of their personal time planning. They also voted to change bell schedules to extend the amount of instructional time in the school day.

"Subsequently, HSTA entered into discussions with the superintendent and BOE and reached an agreement on December 23, 2009, to end furloughs for the remainder of this school year. The HSTA Board of Directors approved the agreement on December 28, 2009, in which among other things, the HSTA agreed to the elimination of two planning days.

"Despite these meaningful and substantial initiatives by the HSTA and the teachers themselves, the governor has never shown the slightest willingness to move off of her position. Instead, the governor stubbornly clings to her mantra of allowing only 'essential teachers' to return to school and eliminating all planning days. Only the governor pretends these are workable solutions."

Okabe concluded, "Parents, teachers, the superintendent, the Board of Education and other stakeholders understand these proposals are unworkable and would only undermine quality education and jeopardize the health and safety of everyone on campus. It should be obvious that if we need all teachers and staff to provide a proper learning environment Monday through Thursday, then we need them on Fridays as well. Otherwise, furlough Fridays will become fantasy Fridays and schools will operate under the pretense that quality instruction is being delivered in an appropriate learning environment.

"By taking this action, we hope to not only to secure a solution for the remaining of this year, but also to lay the foundation for a workable solution for the 2010-2011 school year."

The Hawaii State Teachers Association yesterday filed a complaint with the state labor board against Gov. Linda Lingle, claiming she "willfully and unlawfully" killed the union's tentative agreement with the Board of Education to end furlough days for the current school year.

The teachers union and state education officials agreed in late December to a plan to cut seven furlough days this year using $35 million from the state's "rainy day" fund, leaving 17 furlough days for the next school year. The governor rejected the plan and came back with one of her own to use $50 million from the rainy day fund to cancel 24 furlough days both this year and next.

HSTA's complaint says Lingle did not have the legal authority to kill the original plan, and asks the Hawai'i Labor Relations Board to force the governor to fund their tentative agreement.

Russell Pang, Lingle's spokesman, said the administration had not seen the complaint and would not comment.

The union is arguing the governor's signature was not required for the supplemental agreement because Lingle had already approved the main contract with the HSTA. The authority to draft supplemental agreements lies with the Board of Education, but the governor is blocking the agreement by refusing to fund the plan, the union said.

The HSTA also claims Lingle has been bargaining through the media and has been unwilling to compromise or bargain in good faith.

Lingle's most recent plan to eliminate public school teacher furloughs was nearly identical to her original November plan.

That proposal would have used the $50 million from the state's rainy day fund to cover salaries only for "essential" teachers and would have excluded several categories of instructors, including resource teachers and librarians.

"The governor has never shown the slightest willingness to move off of her position," HSTA president Wil Okabe said in a statement. "Instead, the governor stubbornly clings to her mantra of allowing only 'essential teachers' to return to school and eliminating all planning days. Only the governor pretends these are workable solutions."

HSTA and the Board of Education have said they are concerned the governor's plan would not fund the salaries for all school-level employees to return to work, including security guards, health aides, cafeteria workers and others.

Union and education officials have estimated the DOE would face a $19.3 million budget shortfall under the governor's plan. That's even if teachers swap their planning days, without additional pay, as the governor is still suggesting.

Education officials warned the shortfall would result in layoffs of 2,500 full-time employees, increased class sizes and loss of school-level programs.

Reach Loren Moreno at lmoreno@honoluluadvertiser.com.