The Hawaii Government Employees Association announced a new tentative contract agreement for Unit 3 and Unit 4 late Sunday.

The two bargaining units comprise some 14,400 white-collar employees and supervisors working city, county and state jobs. HGEA Executive Director Randy Perreira described them as “the backbone of Hawaii’s government services.”

“It is important to make sure they are treated fairly,” he said in a release. “Their positions include school educational assistants, school health aides, 911 operators and police radio dispatchers, building inspectors, clerks and secretaries, harbor agents, court bailiffs, and many more positions.”

HGEA had previously reached a deal with the state but stopped the ratification process after learning last week that the Hawaii State Teachers Association had secured a better contract.

The teachers union managed to pad its current contract — which restored 5 percent pay cuts made during the recession and added 3 percent raises — with a $2,000 bonus for full-time teachers and $1,000 for part-time teachers.

The existing teachers’ contract restored a 5 percent pay cut made in 2009 and included annual salary boosts of at least 3 percent through a combination of across-the-board increases and pay grade step-ups in alternating years.

HSTA’s new deal for its 13,500 members also included a 1.8 percent raise that would apply after the current contract ends June 30, 2017.

HGEA Units 3 and 4 were in the process of voting on a two-year deal that let members choose if they wanted a step increase or a $1,500 bonus on July 1 followed by a $600 payment the following year.

The contract also upped taxpayers’ share of the public workers’ health insurance premiums and included 1.6 percent raises next year.

Ratification of HGEA’s new tentative agreement is set to begin Monday. Details of the deal were not released Sunday.

Both unions have been scrambling to reach deals with the state in time for the Legislature to approve funding for them before session ends May 7.

Joint panels of House and Senate lawmakers are set to hear bills to potentially fund contract agreements for collective bargaining costs on Thursday morning.