Vaccine general

As the exclusive representative for Bargaining Unit 05 employees, the HSTA retains attorneys for various collective bargaining matters that affect members, such as issues before the Hawaii Labor Relations Board. However, we do not have practicing attorneys on staff nor do we provide attorneys to teachers for individual consultation. Members should contact their UniServ Director if they have additional questions.

HSTA joins Hawaii’s other five public sector unions in our belief that everyone who is eligible for vaccination should get vaccinated and absent vaccination, they should be regularly tested through a process that has been negotiated and not unilaterally implemented. The public sector unions transmitted a joint letter to the governor demanding bargaining on the new mandate.

The governor suspended portions of Chapter 89 (Hawaii’s collective bargaining law) in his emergency proclamation. This action suspended both the right to negotiate and the right to file a prohibited practice complaint. Suspending portions of the collective bargaining law means that the unions will have a difficult time challenging any failure to bargain at the Hawaii Labor Relations Board. We are looking at other options to protect our right to negotiate the impacts of the mandate.

Yes. The governor used his legal authority through an emergency proclamation to require that all state, city, and county employees attest to whether they are fully vaccinated, partially vaccinated, or not vaccinated for COVID-19. It further provides that as an "alternative,” state and county employees shall be subject to regular COVID-19 testing that shall occur either once or twice per week, at the discretion of the relevant state or county department, office, or agency.