STORY SUMMARY>>>
Lifeguards across all four Hawaii counties are hoping to gain some negotiating power by creating their own bargaining unit under Senate Bill 2247.
Archie Kalepa, a member of the Hawaiian Lifeguard Association, believes lifeguards should be considered essential emergency personnel in much the same way as fire fighters and police officers, both of whom have their own unions.
"The lifeguards in Hawaii, they risk their lives on a daily basis and we need to get good union representation,” Kalepa told Khon2. “We need to be looked at as an emergency service.”
Currently, the four hundred county lifeguards across the state are represented by the Hawaii Government Employees Association under Bargaining Unit #3, which also includes clerical workers and secretaries.
“I honestly think that lifeguard services in the entire state of Hawaii have beyond reason proved that they belong in a public safety entity,” said Kalepa. “It'll be beneficial to all of the lifeguards in the state of Hawaii and I think it'll be beneficial to the state.”
Under a collective bargaining agreement reached between the state, the counties and the HGEA in October, lifeguards could be furloughed up to two days a month starting July 1.
Although no county mayor has announced if lifeguards will be furloughed to help make up budget shortfalls, Kalepa says even a reduction in staff on furlough days would be unacceptable in a uniquely ocean state.
“{From) a public safety standpoint I don't think that should even be and issue,” he said. “I think that's part of why we're raising the flag saying hey, we deserve to have our own union.”
Under state law lifeguards would need legislative approval before they could be recognized as their own bargaining unit. So far the chair of the powerful Senate Labor Committee, Sen. Dwight Takamine has yet to schedule a hearing on the proposal.
Takamine, a democrat who represents east Hawaii County, did not return phone calls Wednesday placed by Khon2 to his secretary at the state Capitol.
However HGEA Deputy Executive Director Nora Nomura said allowing lifeguards to create their own union could open the floodgate to other workers who believe they too should have their own representation. “It just creates all kinds of problems,” she said.
Still, Kalepa is hopeful Sen. Takamine will give the proposal a fair shake.
“I'm just being optimistic about it and hope he really takes a long, hard look and realizes that (emergency personnel) is who we are; this is what do.”
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