Dear Teachers Union Leaders: What don’t you understand about the January contract offer being off the table?

That’s essentially the message chief negotiator Neil Dietz delivered to Hawaii State Teachers Association President Wil Okabe in a letter Wednesday.

He was responding to a July 17 letter Okabe wrote that again asked the state to sign the six-year contract the two negotiating teams had tentatively agreed to seven months ago.

But teachers voted that down when it was put to a vote. Then it went out to a re-vote in May, when it was passed but with fewer teachers participating.

Union leaders insist the May re-vote constituted a ratification. They have asked the state to acknowledge this for the past month despite Gov. Neil Abercrombie saying that offer was already off the table when members approved it the second time around.

“HSTA’s rejection of the January tentative agreement rendered it invalid,” Dietz said in his recent letter to Okabe. “The Employer and HSTA must resume bargaining in order to reach a new tentative agreement.”

Dietz said nothing precludes the parties from considering the provisions of prior agreements as part of the bargaining. But in conformance with the law and past practice, once the state and union reach a new tentative agreement, then HSTA would need to seek its members’ ratification.

Okabe has told teachers that HSTA will consider legal action or other means to enforce the January agreement if the state fails to recognize it. If successful, this would be somewhat akin to getting even with the state, which last year unilaterally imposed the contract teachers are working under now.

In his most recent letter to Dietz, Okabe took issue with past correspondence from the state claiming union leaders lacked the authority to negotiate a contract agreement.

“The terms of the Memorandum of Agreement were negotiated with (Board of Education Chair) Don Horner, with direct authorization and approval of Governor Abercrombie. Others were also involved on behalf of the Employer,” Okabe wrote. “HSTA officers were duly authorized to negotiate the Agreement. The Agreement was approved by the HSTA Board of Directors, and on May 23, 2012, the terms of that Agreement were ratified by a majority of bargaining unit employees.”

But the state wants to negotiate a new agreement in part because of cash flow, Dietz said.

“Among other changed circumstances, the Employer lost the opportunity to request funding from the Legislature,” Dietz wrote. “While there are signs of economic improvement, there remains uncertainty regarding revenues, especially from the federal government in light of its budgetary challenges. … The financial challenges facing the Employer are real and enormous.”

Dietz noted other things that have changed, too, like the Board of Education passing policies in April regarding teacher and principal development, compensation and evaluation.

“Then in May 2012, four months after it rejected the January tentative agreement and in the midst of good faith negotiations, HSTA suddenly announced its desire to accept the rejected tentative agreement, and claimed that this was legally binding,” Dietz wrote. “This is not how collective bargaining or contract negotiation works.”

Dietz wrapped up his letter by using Okabe’s own words.

“On April 3, 2012, you wrote to President Obama about these negotiations and said, ‘We share your belief in the positive power of collective bargaining — renewed negotiations are the best path forward and in the best interest of Hawaii’s students,'” Dietz wrote. “The Employer agrees, and urges you to renew negotiations.”

Read both letters here: