Farmers Shot in the Foot by Unions
Hawaii always experiences battles between its Governor and the state legislature. The state has a Republican governor, Linda Lingle, but is otherwise almost totally Democratic. It is inevitable that everything becomes a political battle with each party seeking to score points off the other. The latest twist – and there is an international connection here – is the fight between the Governor and the state’s heavily Democratic government employee unions.
Like many
other states during this recession, Hawaii is woefully short of funds. It has reached the point where it is simply not possible to continue paying state employees without more revenue – or without axing entire state programs. Hawaii’s private sector has already faced huge layoffs and – trying to avoid the same for the state government – Governor Lingle proposed that state employees be furloughed for three days each month until the crisis is past. The unions reacted with dismay and went to the courts to get the furloughs canceled. The unions argued correctly that furloughs are an implicit cut in pay and that the state must negotiate anything like that before they can be implemented. The courts agreed and I must assume that the unions are legally in the right. The resulting “negotiations”, unsurprisingly, have stalemated.
Here’s where shooting oneself in the foot comes into it. By obviating the furloughs, the unions have left the Governor with no choice but to lay off more than 3,000 state employees by October. I don’t see how this can endear the unions to their rank-and-file members, nor does reducing the number of union members seem in their best interest. But I am even more concerned with the unintended consequences of the lay-offs. (Here comes the international bit.)
The layoffs will, inter alia, mean that the Hawaii Department of Agriculture will lose 118 positions or about 36% of its workforce. This includes most of the state’s agricultural inspectors, including those in the Quality Assurance Division, which inspects agricultural and aquaculture products before they are exported. Many export markets, of course, require such inspections to protect their citizens from tainted foods or their own agricultural industries from dangerous pests. If Hawaii can’t properly inspect its ag exports, then it is unlikely that it will be able to sell much overseas, particularly to strict markets such as Japan. Hawaii exported over $100 million last year in fruit, macadamia nuts, coffee, cut flowers and live plants – close to 15% of the state’s total agricultural output. That’s an awful lot to put at risk for the sake of avoiding temporary furloughs. The government employee unions have not only shot themselves in the foot, they are taking dead aim at farmers’ feet, too!
