LIHU‘E — A meeting between public employee unions and Gov. Linda Lingle to negotiate furloughs is set for Monday, but with budget deficits higher than the state previously expected, workers could face layoffs as soon as today, Lingle said Thursday.
“The reason we have to operate on these different tracks is because of the cumbersome nature of the layoff procedure,” said Lingle at the Kaua‘i Chamber of Commerce Luncheon at the Kaua‘i Marriott Resort and Beach Club, adding that union layoffs generally require a 90-day notice period.
Put in a tight spot after a court ruled her three-day-a-month furlough plan was unconstitutional because it proposed unilateral implementation without union negotiation, Lingle is now faced with having to make quick decisions to ensure that the state’s economic woes don’t continue to grow.
“We need to start right away to have any real impact on the deficit,” Lingle said.
She says the state is losing as much as $28.7 million each month furloughs continue to be delayed.
“It’s not something I want to do; it’s not something that feels good doing,” she said regarding the layoffs, further explaining that she does not want Hawai‘i to end up in a similar situation to California, where budget deficits have reached some $26 billion for the year.
“We won’t be far behind that if we don’t take serious cost-cutting measures now,” she said.
Lingle said budget balancing doesn’t entirely fall back on employees and that “real people, with real lives,” are being taken into account.
“When labor makes up 70 percent of your budget and you’ve already cut $2 billion, if we’re able to get the labor savings, it will only make up 25 percent of the total money,” she said.
Lingle said that ratio will be even lower now that the state’s economic deficiency has grown from $700 million to $786 million due to declining tax revenue collections and non-implementation of furloughs.
“They’re looking to the public sector in terms of furloughs because, at the end of the day, we’re all in the same community and everyone doesn’t want to see anyone out of a job,” said Randy Francisco, president of the Chamber of Commerce, when asked whether he was in favor of furloughs.
The general sentiment of Chamber members, he said, is that “the private sector is doing its part” in cutting back hours, “and are looking to the public sector” for further assistance.
Sally Motta, treasurer for the Kaua‘i Chamber of Commerce, said she knows a private sector company that recently had to reduce hours in order to keep from terminating employees.
By implementing furloughs, state workers would be “sharing the burden,” Motta said, instead of “taking jobs away.”
“She’s (Lingle) smart in going ahead and passing out notices in order to have a back-up” in case she does not succeed in court, Motta said.
Lingle said she will likely appeal the Circuit Court ruling on furloughs.
