The head of the teachers union says contract talks with the state have been hamstrung in recent weeks because key representatives for the state haven’t come to the bargaining table to hammer out proposals.

Labor negotiations are underway with 14 units of the state’s public worker unions, including the Hawaii State Teachers Association, which represents 13,500 members.

For negotiations with HSTA, the state, as the employer, is represented at the table by six individuals with voting powers: the governor has three votes, the Board of Education has two votes and the schools superintendent has a vote, under Hawaii’s collective bargaining law.

Corey Rosenlee, president of the Hawaii State Teachers Association, says the state’s chief negotiator and two BOE members did not attend the latest round of contract talks. James Nishimoto, director of the state Department of Human Resources Development, is serving as chief negotiator, while the board is represented by BOE Chairman Lance Mizumoto and member Maggie Cox.

“When we met last time, there was basically no one with decision-making authority,” Rosenlee said in an interview. “This has been a problem. The problem is that it’s coming into March, the legislative session is in midstream and there are still too many of our proposals that we haven’t even heard back from on.”

Besides pay proposals, Rosenlee said the union has presented proposals that would cap class sizes and help alleviate the workloads of members who teach students with special needs.

“From our perspective, these are important conversations we need to have of how to improve our schools,” he said. “But it can’t be a one-sided conversation.”

Gov. David Ige’s office pointed out that the teachers union is one of 14 units with contracts that expire June 30.

Mike McCartney, Ige’s chief of staff, said in an emailed statement that the chief negotiator will become more involved when there are cost items to vet and once the next forecast of state tax revenues is released next week.

“The Board of Education, schools superintendent and the state’s chief negotiator have always been represented at the bargaining table,” McCartney said. “The chief negotiator will become more involved in discussions with the HSTA once the Council on Revenues makes its revenue forecast on March 13.”

Thousands of teachers across the state participated in early-morning sign-waving events before school Tuesday to call attention to the issue.

“The message that we are trying to send is we have put forward a robust set of proposals on how to fix our schools, and we’re really hoping that the state and the governor will come back and start negotiating and start discussing it with us,” Rosenlee said.

Last legislative session, the union attempted to get some of these proposals put into statute with its “Schools Our Keiki Deserve” package of bills. The union had sought to raise the general excise tax to fund a 10-part omnibus education bill, which called for things like higher teacher pay, more public preschools, an end to high-stakes testing, a cap on class sizes and additional preparation time for special-education teachers.

“The Legislature was very clear last year. They said they would deal with funding, but they didn’t want to get involved with collective bargaining. They said, ‘If you want certain things like class sizes and special education, you need to collectively bargain it,’” Rosenlee said. “And so that’s exactly what we’re doing.”