The state and the Hawaii Government Employees Association appear close to reaching a settlement that would result in furloughs but not necessarily stave off any layoffs, HGEA executive director Randy Perreira said this afternoon.

Perreira called a press conference hours after Gov. Linda Lingle told a gathering of reporters at the state Capitol that she also felt the two sides were close to an agreement.
Indications were that the employers’ side was waiting to get the OK from one of the four county mayors to check-off on an agreement that would be taken to HGEA’s membership for ratification.
The state and HGEA were in a binding arbitration meeting yesterday but both sides have said they would prefer to settle the issue independently.
“It’s certainly possible that we get it this weekend,” Lingle said. We’re that close. We’ll just have to wait and see how this plays out.”
Both parties also said there was also one key point that needed to be settled between the state and the union that was independent of the counties. Neither would disclose the issue.
“We are very hopeful that we will be able to come to an agreement shortly and of course at that time more details will be offered,” Perreira said. “But because we are at a sensitive point, we’re not going to discuss any of the particulars at this time.”
Perreira said the proposed settlement will include furlough days for the union’s 23,000 employees.
“We never necessarily objected to the furlough plan,” Perreira said. “What’s been in contention is the amount.”
Asked if the the agreement would stave off either the first or future rounds of layoffs, Perreira said he needed to defer to the governor on that question.
Lingle indicated that the first round of layoffs would need to be carried out.
Asked how the proposed settlement would affect the reduction-in-force program, Lingle said “it would mean that future layoffs would not have to be as severe because we’ve had labor savings from furlough days.”