Council Weighs Employee Raises to Some Workers

The Kaua‘i County Council is considering giving raises to some employees.

The council is weighing adopting Bill 2850 for an ordinance that would approve a collective bargaining agreement with Unit 1 employees that would increase their compensations in various ways.

The agreement stipulates that the employees will receive a lump sum payment of $1,000 pro-rated by their full-time equivalency. It also stipulates that they’ll receive, effective Oct. 1, a 3.72% across the board increase; a 5% across the board increase July 1, 2023; and another 5% increase July 1, 2024.

The collective bargaining agreement, if approved, will run from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2025. The total cost of the contract period would range from $401,657 in 2022 to $3.7 million in 2025.

Unit 1 employees are classified as blue-collar, non-supervised positions.

According to the County of Kaua‘i, Department of Human Resources, there are approximately 375 employees in Unit 1 for the County of Kaua‘i.

The United Public Workers, AFSCME Local 646, AFL-CIO (UPW), the bargaining representative for approximately 14,000 public employees, testified in support of the council adopting the bill.

“UPW strongly supports Bill No. 2850,” the union wrote. “The approval of this bill will help to ensure that our Bargaining Unit 1 members in the County of Kaua‘i will receive the necessary funding for the respective cost items in this new agreement.”

The measure was introduced by Councilman Arryl Kaneshiro. A video of the brief April 6 public hearing on the matter can be viewed here.

The council is scheduled to adopt the public hearing meeting minutes during its Wednesday, April 20 meeting, which begins at 8:30 a.m. and take up the matter at the committee level. If it passes there, it would go to the council for second and final reading on during its May 4 meeting.