Hoping to avoid further layoffs, the Hawaii Government Employees Association has voted for a new two-year contract that includes 18 furlough days this fiscal year and 24 furlough days next fiscal year for most state workers represented by the union.

The state's largest public-sector union announced last night that six of its seven bargaining units voted to ratify the contract, with between 60 percent and 95 percent in support. One unit representing school principals and other educational officers at the state Department of Education will continue voting today, with the results expected tonight.

The furloughs are equivalent to about an 8 percent pay cut.

"These agreements have clearly been difficult for our members to accept, but the ratification vote validates what HGEA has said all along — that public employees are willing to do their share and help our state with its budget challenges," HGEA executive director Randy Perreira said in a statement. "In accepting these significant wage reductions, we expect the Lingle administration will look to ways other than layoffs to address the state's budget shortfall. Our members will adjust their lives and move on, but it is incumbent upon our elected leaders to do what they can to prevent further job losses and greater impacts to the public services that our community relies upon."

The Lingle administration has estimated that the new contract will save the state $204 million over two years. The administration has projected a $1 billion budget deficit through June 2011.

Gov. Linda Lingle has ordered layoffs of 1,100 state workers in November and has warned a second round of layoffs is possible. But the governor said no decision has been made on further layoffs, and Perreira and other union leaders hope that accepting furloughs will be a significant enough sacrifice for state workers. HGEA workers are also paying 23.4 percent more for health care premiums because the state has frozen health care spending at last fiscal year's levels to reduce costs.

"HGEA members clearly recognized that the type of shared sacrifice embodied in our agreement is necessary to help see our state through the budget crisis we are now experiencing," Lingle said in a statement. "State and county employees work hard and serve the public well. These furlough days are not a reflection on their dedication — they are a reflection of the current fiscal reality."

ARBITRATION'S RISKS

HGEA leaders told their 29,600 members it was in their best interest to vote for the contract because the alternative would be to wait for an arbitration decision in December that could be less favorable.

The Lingle administration and the HGEA had completed hearings before a three-member arbitration panel but opted to reach a settlement outside of arbitration.

Union leaders said there was a "strong indication" that the arbitration panel's ruling would be the same or worse than the settlement, with no guarantee the panel would choose furloughs rather than a pay cut with no days off.

Under the contract, most state workers represented by the union will take 18 furlough days this fiscal year and 24 furlough days next fiscal year.

Union educators on 10-month schedules at the state Department of Education will take 17 furlough days a year, the same as most public school teachers.

HGEA personnel at the Hawaii Health Systems Corp. and the University of Hawaii will take 5 percent annual pay cuts instead of furloughs. HGEA personnel at UH would also be placed on paid administrative leave on the day after Thanksgiving, the week of Christmas, the week of New Year's Day, and spring break. The contract provisions for the HGEA's UH personnel mirror proposals pending in contract talks between the university and faculty.

Counties will have the option of ordering 18 furlough days this fiscal year and 24 furlough days next fiscal year for county workers represented by the union. County mayors have said, however, that furloughs are unlikely until next fiscal year.

'NEED TO PITCH IN'

The HGEA ratification vote follows an agreement in September between the Lingle administration and the Hawaii State Teachers Association on a two-year contract with 17 furlough days a year for teachers on 10-month schedules and 21 furlough days a year for teachers on 12-month schedules.

The furloughs for teachers amount to a 7.9 percent pay cut.

"I think we all need to pitch in and help the state," said Justin Mew, the principal at Niu Valley Middle School, who voted last night at the McKinley Community School for Adults. "We all need to do our share, and this is doing our share."

Dewey Gottlieb, an education specialist, said it makes sense for the union to make the same sacrifice as teachers. "Nobody likes it, but we've got to do something," he said after voting at McKinley.

The Lingle administration and the blue-collar United Public Workers are still in contract negotiations. The state and the UPW's public-safety unit are in binding arbitration that may not conclude until December.

Negotiations are also continuing between the University of Hawaii and the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly. The faculty union rejected a final offer from the university that included a 5 percent pay cut.

Paul Brewbaker, an economist with TZ Economics in Kailua and the chairman of the state Council on Revenues, said the private sector began shedding workers and cutting pay and benefits shortly after the recession began while the state has waited until the tail end of the recession to reduce labor costs.

While furloughs for state workers do represent a pay cut, Brewbaker said many in the private sector who took pay cuts are doing the same amount of work as before without the days off. He also said that many private-sector workers have lost their jobs during the recession, while the state is just starting targeted layoffs.

"Many businesses open each and every day for business for less revenue," he said in an e-mail. "Many, many, many people in the private sector are neither working nor are getting paid, having lost their employment."

Virtually none in the public sector have lost their jobs.

"Forget the fact that public workers are being compensated for their hardship by getting three-day weekends until June 2011. As far as I can tell, mainly the people paying the price here in Hawaii are public school children."