2021 (Archives)

How We Navigate Our Future at UH

The Power of Collaboration: The Key to Navigating the University of Hawai‘i’s FutureBy Christian Fern, Karla Hayashi and David Duffy The pandemic, even with all of its devastating effects, has brought out the best in some organizations and its employees. Pivoting has become the watch word throughout the pandemic. We have seen a number of organizations successfully adapt to new constraints. Organizations that are flexible and innovative have welcomed change instead of wallowing in despair. Many of these entities have rapidly evolved [...]

2021-02-09T09:03:39-10:00February 8, 2021|Academic, Commentary, Frontpage, Monday Report, Opinion|

It Takes a Village to Provide Academic Excellence In and Outside the Classroom

Creating an environment of academic excellence in which students thrive and flourish, realize their fullest potential, and discover new opportunities for growth does not happen by accident. It takes a village of committed faculty to develop a supportive culture of learning, both in and outside of the classroom.Yet, we are aware non-instructional faculty are being attacked and may be regarded as administrative, professional and technical staff. This nothing new. We’ve been there before.That’s why your faculty collective bargaining agreement, negotiated by UHPA’s [...]

2021-02-07T14:24:47-10:00February 8, 2021|Academic, Commentary, Frontpage, Monday Report|

Attacking Tenure Threatens Democracy

Beware! A Threat to Tenure is a Threat to Democracy At a time when our nation is still reeling from witnessing brazen acts of insurgency, we must remain vigilant to any potential threats to our democracy, even in respected institutions of higher learning. Universities across our nation have always been beacons of democracy. Intellectual freedom has always been at the core of our nation’s higher education system. Free thought and free speech without reprisal are the norm and are the very qualities [...]

2021-01-29T14:03:18-10:00February 1, 2021|Commentary, Frontpage, Monday Report|

Governor confirms furloughs on hold

On Friday Jan 15, 2021, UHPA received the attached PDF and we’ve excerpted the key message from the State’s Chief Negotiator Ryker Wada: On December 29, 2020, Governor Ige sent a message to the entire Executive Branch notifying employees that due to the $900 Billion federal COVID-19 relief bill, there was enough direct support to programs in the State of Hawaii so that furloughs would bedelayed for Executive Branch employees until at least July 1, 2021. I understand that President Lassner sent [...]

2021-01-25T16:05:53-10:00January 19, 2021|Contract negotiations, Frontpage, Monday Report|

When will UH Faculty receive COVID-19 vaccinations?

UHPA has received a number of inquiries from Unit 7 Faculty Members about the State of Hawaii’s plans on the COVID-19 vaccination roll out and when Unit 7 Faculty Members can expect to be able to register and obtain a vaccination if they choose. Vaccine distribution is outside of our legal authority The State of Hawaii, Department of Health, has been put in charge of the Statewide effort and is the sole authority in making decisions on priority and vaccine distribution.  Unfortunately, [...]

2021-01-15T11:58:55-10:00January 18, 2021|COVID19, Frontpage, Monday Report|

New Legislative Protocols

The State Legislature has instituted new protocols for the 2021 Legislative Session.  Starting with their offices are officially closed to the public.  All meetings, hearings, floor sessions will be conducted virtually. All House and Senate Hearings can be easily located on our webpage, UHPA At The Legislature,  Hearings on Demand.  These hearings are broadcast via YouTube and show previously held hearings. The Legislative calendar has been modified by one week, reducing recess days from thirteen to nine. For full details of new [...]

2022-01-28T18:05:56-10:00January 15, 2021|Frontpage, Legislative, Monday Report|

State of Hawaii launches “AlohaSafe” COVID exposure notification app

From their website: AlohaSafe Alert is a free, voluntary new service that helps slow the spread of COVID-19. It is the State of Hawaii’s official exposure notification app and has been developed in partnership with the Hawaii State Department of Health. Voluntary You control whether or not you receive notifications (you can opt-in/opt-out anytime). Notifications are only triggered if minimum thresholds of exposure are met. Private The app does not track your location. It anonymously keeps track of devices you’ve been in [...]

2021-01-07T14:04:07-10:00January 7, 2021|COVID19, Frontpage, Monday Report|

Collective Bargaining Standing Report going forward

This will be the default collective bargaining and retirement incentive plan update unless otherwise published To reduce unnecessary traffic and redundancy of information from UHPA, you can assume that this report will be the same every week and therefore UHPA will only be publishing news and updates that are substantively different from the following weekly status items:  Mid-term bargaining is on hold until further notice. Governor Ige intends to delay furloughs until at least July 1, 2021. Negotiations over a successor UHPA/BOR [...]

2021-01-15T16:57:46-10:00January 4, 2021|Frontpage, Monday Report|
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