The union and district continue to be at odds regarding
salaries and health insurance after 19 months of talks.
RIDGEWOOD — The failure of a state-appointed
super-conciliator to resolve a 19-month-long labor dispute between the Board of
Education and district teachers union has left local officials and union heads
considering their next move.
Disagreements over several issues — including salaries,
proposed changes in the union insurance plan and how much the Ridgewood
Education Association’s 547 members should contribute toward their health
insurance premiums — have contributed to a breakdown in the negotiations, which
began five months before the last contract expired on June 30, 2015.
A meeting with the super-conciliator Tim Huntley last
month yielded no accord, and each side has accused the other of refusing to
budge.
REA President Michael Yannone, said the situation has
deteriorated in recent weeks.
“This is not a priority for them,” he said of the board.
“They don’t have kids in the district. ... These people just simply don’t care
about the quality of education in Ridgewood because they don’t use it.”
But Board President Sheila Brogan said in an email on
Thursday that trustees “cannot agree to a settlement that jeopardizes the
district’s financial well being or diminishes our students’ instructional and
extracurricular programs and experiences.”
Another meeting with Huntley is scheduled for Sept. 6 —
the first day of school for village students — and the REA will hold a rally
that day at 4 p.m. outside the board’s offices on Cottage Place.
Though REA members haven’t talked about a strike, Yannone
said he hasn’t ruled out the possibility.
“We haven’t had that conversation yet, but how many times
do you beat your head against the wall?” he said. “It’s something the
membership would have to discuss.”
Under the expired three-year contract, teachers’ salaries
ranged from about $56,000 to a maximum of $116,000.
The board agreed last November to discuss employee health
contributions, which have risen sharply since 2011, when public employees were
required to contribute more toward their pensions and benefits. But the board
has said it would agree to do so only if the plan were “cost neutral.”
In May, a state-appointed fact finder issued a report
calling for a three-year agreement granting annual raises of 2.2 to 2.8 percent
with no changes to the insurance plan or employee contribution rate. Yannone
called it a “fair compromise,” but the board unanimously rejected it.
The settlement would cost $4.4 million over the
state-mandated 2 percent cap in most tax-supported district spending, Brogan
said, and would be “financially unaffordable and unsustainable.”
According to a statement issued in July, this would mean
firing teachers, secretaries and administrators, cutting some athletic and
co-curricular activities, and spending less on textbooks, technology and
professional development.
Salaries and benefits for REA members accounted for about
$45.8 million of the district’s $101.2 million 2015-16 budget. Brogan has said
REA members pay an average of 26 percent of their health insurance premiums —
or about $2.6 million of the union’s total health insurance premium cost of
$10.2 million.
The board has offered a threeyear proposal that includes
salary increases of 1.1 to 2.8 percent. It would also pay the highest-earning
teachers between $500 and $1,500 to offset their health insurance premium
contributions, and switch the union to a cheaper insurance plan, with increased
co-pays and out-of-pocket expenses for members, saving the district $722,000
and union members $250,000.
The union rejected the deal. The REA has said
underbudgeting and the replacement of older, more experience teachers with
younger ones who are paid less has given the board enough financial flexibility
to meet the union’s demands.
Source: North
Jersey.com
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