Hawaii Revised Statutes Division 1. Government § 89-9

(a) The employer and the exclusive representative shall meet at reasonable times, including meetings sufficiently in advance of the February 1 impasse date under section 89-11, and shall negotiate in good faith with respect to wages, hours, the amounts of contributions by the State and respective counties to the Hawaii employer-union health benefits trust fund to the extent allowed in subsection (e), and other terms and conditions of employment which are subject to collective bargaining and which are to be embodied in a written agreement as specified in section 89-10, but such obligation does not compel either party to agree to a proposal or make a concession.

(b) The employer or the exclusive representative desiring to initiate negotiations shall notify the other party in writing, setting forth the time and place of the meeting desired and the nature of the business to be discussed, sufficiently in advance of the meeting.

(c) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, all matters affecting employee relations, including those that are, or may be, the subject of a rule adopted by the employer or any director, shall be subject to consultation with the exclusive representatives of the employees concerned. The employer shall make every reasonable effort to consult with exclusive representatives and consider their input, along with the input of other affected parties, prior to effecting changes in any major policy affecting employee relations.

(d) Excluded from the subjects of negotiations are matters of classification, reclassification, benefits of but not contributions to the Hawaii employer-union health benefits trust fund, recruitment, examination, initial pricing, and retirement benefits except as provided in section 88-8(h). The employer and the exclusive representative shall not agree to any proposal that would be inconsistent with the merit principle or the principle of equal pay for equal work pursuant to section 76-1 or that would interfere with the rights and obligations of a public employer to:

This subsection shall not be used to invalidate provisions of collective bargaining agreements in effect on and after June 30, 2007, and except as otherwise provided in this chapter, shall not preclude negotiations over the implementation of management decisions that affect terms and conditions of employment that are subject to collective bargaining. Further, this subsection shall not preclude negotiations over the procedures and criteria on promotions, transfers, assignments, demotions, layoffs, suspensions, terminations, discharges, or other disciplinary actions as subjects of bargaining during collective bargaining negotiations or negotiations over a memorandum of agreement, memorandum of understanding, or other supplemental agreement; provided that such obligation shall not compel either party to agree to a proposal or make a concession.

Violations of the procedures and criteria so negotiated may be subject to the grievance procedure in the collective bargaining agreement.

(e) Negotiations relating to contributions to the Hawaii employer-union health benefits trust fund shall be for the purpose of agreeing upon the amounts which the State and counties shall contribute under section 87A-32, toward the payment of the costs for a health benefits plan, as defined in section 87A-1, and group life insurance benefits, and the parties shall not be bound by the amounts contributed under prior agreements; provided that section 89-11 for the resolution of disputes by way of arbitration shall not be available to resolve impasses or disputes relating to the amounts the State and counties shall contribute to the Hawaii employer-union health benefits trust fund.

(f) The repricing of classes within an appropriate bargaining unit shall be negotiated and determined as follows:

provided that the parties may mutually agree on repricing procedures in conformance with this section; provided further that a repricing request can only be submitted once per occupation in any eighteen-month period; provided further that impasse procedures shall not apply if the impasse occurs within one hundred eighty days after a collective bargaining agreement has been reached between the employer and the exclusive representative of the bargaining unit. Notwithstanding the foregoing, no more than fifteen repricing impasse procedures shall be active at any time. If an impasse procedure would have triggered, but cannot begin because it would exceed the maximum fifteen active repricing impasse procedures, the parties shall continue to negotiate until such time as the repricing impasse procedure begins; provided that preference for new repricing impasse procedures shall be given to repricings in the order in which they began.