The Hawaii State Teachers Union has finally released more detailed information on turnout for the recent re-vote on the January contract. Many teachers as well as others had been pushing for it. Civil Beat’s Nathan Eagle has the story:

hawaiieducationblog:

Just over half of Hawaii’s teachers cast ballots in the recent re-vote on the January contract agreement with the state, which the governor says no longer has legal standing.

The Hawaii State Teachers Association’s Board of Directors certified the results Saturday night. The union’s president, Wil Okabe, told teachers that 6,819 members voted.

Okabe had come under fire for not releasing the turnout numbers promptly, as the union had the first time teachers voted on the contract offer.

Teachers voted against the offer by a two-to-one margin the first time around, but approved it in the re-vote by the same margin. The turnout was significantly higher in January, with some 70 percent of the union voting.

The lower turnout this time may reflect the fact that a ‘no’ vote authorized the union to call for a strike, and questions over what the vote mattered if the agreement was no longer valid.

The governor has urged the union to submit a new proposal and return to the bargaining table. Okabe maintains that the re-vote results amount to a ratification that the state has the authority to accept. Both sides want to resolve the nearly year-old labor dispute in part to keep what’s left of the $75 million Race to the Top grant.