LIHU‘E — Coming on the heels of a teachers informational rally at the King Kaumuali‘i Elementary School Tuesday, teachers at Elsie Wilcox Elementary School brought their no-contract plight to the sidewalks Thursday.
This is the second time in as many weeks the teachers have come forward in frustration over the negotiations for a new contract.
“We are demonstrating our dissatisfaction with the governor for the disrespect he has shown us with regard to contract negotiations,” states a flier, which was distributed by the Hawai‘i State Teachers Association to parents, students and community members. “For too long, politicians like our current governor have taken us for granted and treated us with contempt and disregard. We have been pushed to the point where we have no choice but to take a stand and send a strong message.”
Tom Perry, Kaua‘i HSTA representative, said he received a memo indicating Hawai‘i teachers will be sign waving statewide Thursday, coinciding with the Wilcox teachers’ rally along Hardy Street.
The memo states HSTA President Wil Okabe will be joining teachers at Farrington High School in Honolulu Thursday afternoon.
“While there will be a large body of teachers expressing their frustration over in Ewa, it is important for HSTA to show their support to all schools in their efforts to increase public attention and support for our cause of a dignified contract resolution,” Okabe said in the memo. “We are very grateful to have Local 5 and Pride at Work Hawai‘i joining the large body, which will be sign waving in Ewa. Today, I want to make sure teachers know that no matter how large or small their legal and constructive efforts are, HSTA is in full support.”
The state Department of Education told the Associated Press a state negotiating team and the teachers union resumed contract talks Nov. 14 with DOE Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi, and Board of Education representatives joined the initial discussion on the state proposals for a two-year contract, which would start next year.
Two days later, hundreds of people rallied near the James Campbell High School in Ewa Beach, O‘ahu to speak out in favor of a negotiated contract for teachers during a “work to rule” protest.
Perry said three more schools on Kaua‘i are scheduling rallies next Thursday: Kapa‘a Middle School teachers will be sign waving in front of their campus, Kalaheo Elementary School will be sign waving at the school’s campus, and Kaua‘i High School teachers will be sign waving at the Pikake Street and Nawiliwili Road junction near the site of the former Borders Books & Music.
Both sign waving events are scheduled from 7 to 7:45 a.m. and from 2:45 to 3:30 p.m.
Okabe, who supports the sign waving and protest events, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Nov. 23 the events help raise community awareness about the ongoing labor dispute.
“More and more teachers are becoming increasingly frustrated with the state’s 18-month failure to come to a fair resolution over the teachers’ contract,” Okabe said in an HSTA release following an incident of a teacher initiating his own efforts on behalf of his colleagues. “In the months ahead, I know there will be many more independent efforts by teachers to end the stalemate.”
Okabe said he would never compare himself to a leader of the historical significance of Mahatma Gandhi, but does draw inspiration from how Gandhi reacted when his people moved ahead of him, Gandhi saying “There goes my people. I must follow them, for I am their leader.”
“In that spirit, I want teachers who are initiating actions, inside or outside HSTA’s formal structure, to know that I will join them in any legal and constructive action they initiate, which will increase public attention and support for our cause of a dignified contract resolution.”
Visit www.ContractfortheFuture.org or www.HSTA.org for more information.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
