2010-12-10 Cost of Government Commission Minutes

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MR. MATSUDA: So on the comp time situation where you have a cap, is it you’re going to be either you use it or you lose it, or just cash it out? MR. TAKAHASHI: Employees aren’t able to elect comp time off if they’re at the cap. They would have to receive payment at the time. MR. MATSUDA: Paying cashed out? MR. TAKAHASHI: Yes. MS. NICHOLSON: Has there been any discussion about going to paid time off versus separate vacation and sick leave, even personal time off? MR. TAKAHASHI: Yes. Hawai‘i Health Systems is taking the forefront in that in trying to negotiate those types ofprovisions with its nurses. We have looked into that type of 8-hour leave or whatever you want to call that. We’re looking into it as trying to open doors to get that type instead of the current vacation/sick leave situation. We’re still at the very beginning stages of that though and I don’t believe it’s going to happen over night. It’s going to take some time for both sides to understand how that works. But it is something that’s in the works, I guess. That is in the discussion stages. MS. NICHOLSON: It kind of sounds like you guys are between a rock and a hard place. And it actually sounds like we kind of are too, because there is so little flexibility. Is that just my perception? MR. TAKAHASHI: That’s correct. We are. It’s difficult to get something that’s already in stone in the contracts to be change. It’s very difficult. MS. O’HARA: You said the trend in union contracts is towards your take backs at this point. For the upcoming two-year contract, is that under negotiation already or no? MR. TAKAHASHI: Yeah. But I cannot discuss it. MS. O’HARA: I know you can’t discuss it. But I’m just curious with the furloughs, is this something that is likely to be carried on to forward contracts or, I know the economic situation with the county doesn’t look like it’s improving quickly. So is that likely to continue in that manner or are you going to look at different ways to deal with that? MR. TAKAHASHI: I couldn’t say. But we are looking into ways as how to address our counties economic needs and what we need to do. Again, I cannot discuss specifics but we are considering all options at this point. MS. O’HARA: Okay. MR. MATSUDA: Well, I’m glad the county, you didn’t realize very many if not zero complaints regarding the furlough situation, but I think maybe partly it was because the state was already on furlough. 10