Bargaining Update 5/24/2010

Dear SHEA members,


On Monday, May 24th the negotiating team met with the district and gave the district a full package. The idea was to cut to the chase and settle with the district. Below is a list of what we decided to do to get the district to settle – our main goal was to make us whole and not go backwards in compensation and one way to do that was to take a small step back in some of our language changes. The district is proposing language that would not give us a raise and cap our insurance so that a person on a family plan would end up paying around $500 out of pocket per month for full coverage. The numbers just keep getting uglier. Here is what we attempted on Monday.

1. A one year agreement – we are hoping that the future is brighter than what we have to work with now.

2. We are in agreement with the district on part time employees and their pay.

3. Transfers - we fought hard for better, but in end the district holds the cards and the best we could do was to have the people who want to transfer receive a guaranteed interview for the job. We also added that people who want to transfer can put that in writing and give that to the district office who will keep that on file for a year so they know you are interested.

4. Employee work year - we felt that the approved calendar was pretty good and reflected what we as teachers wanted. We did manage to get the right to work from home on teacher grading days as long as you were available by phone.

5. Prep time – this is a sore subject, especially for elementary teachers. The best we could do was to say that teachers will receive 225 minutes of prep time per week. 150 minutes of that time will be within the student contact time in uninterrupted blocks of no less than 30 minutes and no teacher will lose a prep period except in the case of an emergency. We as a team want to say that if you are not getting this, you need to grieve it, or you never will get the time you deserve.

6. Leaves – there were some minor changes in language. The biggest thing we fought for was that discretionary and bereavement leave do not need administrator approval. We added that you only need to submit your request through the district leave system. We were concerned about their language which seemed to say we needed approval to use those leaves.

7. Reduction in staff language was changed to better reflect the type of licenses teachers hold. Grade clusters were changed from K-5, 5-9, and 7-12 to K-6 and 6-12. We see this as a much better fit and a fairer system than what was there before.

8. Salary – first and foremost we believe we have earned a raise. However, we have looked at the realities of the numbers and if we want health care we cannot have a raise. It just will not fly. We are offering the district a 0% increase. Employees who are due a step increase, will get their step increase. As for those employees who are at the bottom of the column, we are adding a longevity step which averages about a 2% increase. I know this is not the news you want, but it is reality and when you see how much the district will have to pay in total compensation for health care you will understand why we are not fighting hard for a raise. Next, all new hires will be given credit for years based on licensed experience only. These can be TSPC licenses or other professional licensure. We want people to be treated equally. We also managed to get all members a pass into all school sponsored activities at no charge – staff ID will work as your pass. YAHOO – it is the little victories sometimes.

9. Extra pay – high school coaches who extend their seasons by participation in state playoffs or tournaments will get extra pay. This section needed clarification and we believe it reads well.

10. Insurance – we just want to stay at 92.5% coverage. Insurance went up around 25% - this is a budget buster. Long term, the district cannot sustain these type of increases. One example of how this is unsustainable is the Providence plan for families which will increase to $2200 a month! Health insurance at some point will be equal to the pay you receive. By keeping our insurance benefit the same next year as it is this year the district will have to pay almost $5000 more in health care compensation.(If you were on a family plan that is not Kaiser) That would be a terrific raise. Insurance is a monster that is destroying the state and our pay. One new idea we added was the idea of opting out of insurance. The idea is that the district would pay you in a 125 plan or other plan 50% of the premium of an employee only insurance benefit you would receive about $300 a month. We believe enough people would opt out and go on their spouses insurance to be a significant cost savings to the district which would possibly make the settlement of this contract more of a possibility.

11. Tuition reimbursement – we want to give teachers in their first 2 years 6 credits per year and guarantee they would be reimbursed for those credits. For teachers past 2 years, if you had your classes preapproved you would be guaranteed reimbursement for them too as long as you passed them with a C or better. Our idea here is to help our younger teachers by giving them more credits and helping everyone by having a preapproval system to guarantee reimbursement.

12. Employee rights – we focused on threats to teachers and their ability to access district paid leave. The district seems on board with us on this especially on the day of the threat. If the employee still feels unsafe after that, the employee and district will work together to decide how the leave situation would work for further days of leave.

13. Grievances – we are pushing hard to get the notification to go from 5 to 15 days. We feel we need more time while the district has been reluctant .

14. Complaints – we focused on the idea that people who complain should have to meet with you face to face. We are settling with if the complainant is unwilling to attend a conference, a signed, written complaint must be filed.

15. Reemployment of retired employees – we want them to be treated like us. We want them to be bargaining unit members and have our protections. We do understand they lose their accrued sick leave and will only have what they have not used in the current years compensation and the same goes for discretionary leave.

There are some other changes, but mostly they are minor in nature. For a full look at the proposals, talk to one of the people on the negotiation team.

Thanks for your support and if you have ideas, let us know!