Hawaii State Teachers Association

History

The Hawaii State Teachers Association was founded in 1971 and is affiliated with the left-of-center National Education Association, the largest teachers union in the United States. According to its website, the Hawaii union represents 13,700 public school teachers in the state. The union was preceded by the Hawaii Education Association, which was founded in 1921 and lobbied the Hawaii legislature in the late 1960s to allow collective bargaining, allowing for the creation of the HSTA. The Hawaii Education Association changed its tax-exempt status to that of a public charity and continues operations as a professional development and scholarship organization and non-union membership group for state teachers. ^{3 4}

In the late 1970s, the HSTA formed its political action committee (PAC) which funded and endorsed candidates for office. Regarding its activity in the 1980s, the union stated, “The militancy and the need to fight for teachers’ rights that had driven the organization up to that point, was gradually being replaced by a compelling interest in the nature of education itself.”  ⁴

Hawaii’s first teachers’ strike occurred in 1972, which closed schools for 18 days. The union went on strike again in 2001, which lasted 21 days, the longest in state history. The 2001 strike garnered national attention, described by the New York Times as “chaotic.” ⁵

Collective Bargaining

The Hawaii State Teachers Association regularly collectively bargains with the state on behalf of its over 13,000 members. The 2023 contract reached by the union saw an increase of teacher pay by around $10,000 per teacher, a total of $577 million in pay increases that led to starting salaries of over $50,000 in the state. The union called the earlier contract agreed to during the COVID-19 pandemic “lackluster.” ¹

The union has also supported legislation passed by the state legislature to fund $185 million for the State’s School Facilities Authority to fund the construction of affordable housing for teachers on school grounds and nearby. ⁶

COVID-19

In 2021, the Hawaii State Teachers Association filed two grievances against the statewide public school system over pandemic working conditions. The union said in the grievances against the state Department of Education that teachers had to work extra hours and were being forced to teach remotely while on sick leave. As late as 2021, union leaders cast doubt on in-person learning without contract tracing and quarantining, with the HSTA president stating that “A lot of times the administrators are just looking at a seating chart from a teacher and making a decision based on what they see on the seating chart as to who to quarantine.” ⁷