McGuffey teachers OK strike if board doesn't approve panel recommendation
McGuffey teachers voted Tuesday night to strike if the school board doesn’t approve the contract recommendation of an arbitration panel.
Teachers struck for two days earlier this year, which led to the arbitration. The two sides have not reached agreement on salary, health care, retirement incentive and length of the contract.
As a part of the arbitration, the board and union each made a last best offer. The arbitration panel also considered a recommendation by an independent fact-finder, Matthew M. Franckiewicz.
The arbitration panel had to choose one of the three options and selected the fact-finder’s report, said Andrew MacBeth, a spokesman for the union.
Franckiewicz’s report calls for starting teachers to get a $1,075 increase this year to $34,096. It calls for the maximum salary to be $73,942 this year, an increase of $960. To receive the maximum salary, a teacher must have a doctorate. No McGuffey teachers have a doctorate.
It calls for the starting salary to be $41,789 in 2013-14, the last year of the contract. That year, it calls for the maximum salary to be $79,243.
The report calls for the monthly health insurance premiums to stay the same this year and next year at a cost of $15 per month for single coverage and $30 for any other coverage. It would jump to $20 and $40, respectively, for the next two years of the contract and to $25 and $50 for the last year of the contract.
Both sides voted on that fact-finder’s report earlier this school year – the union supported it and the board said it was unaffordable.
The union again voted in support of the fact-finder’s report Tuesday night, MacBeth said. Both sides have 10 calendar days from when the arbitration panel’s recommendation was issued to consider the report, he said. The report was issued Friday. If either side doesn’t vote on the panel recommendation, then it is considered rejected, he said.
MacBeth said that means the board has until Monday to take action on the report. Should the board not approve the recommendation, the teachers will strike again before the end of the school year, he said. The union must give a 48-hour strike notice before the strike can occur, he said.
He said the teachers are pleased with the arbitrators’ recommendation and teachers showed their commitment to ending the impasse by approving that recommendation.
“By choosing the fact-finder’s proposal, the neutral arbitrator once again has confirmed that this compromise works best for our students, our community and our members,” MacBeth said. “Now it is time for the school board to do the same.”
School board member Doug Teagarden, who is on the board’s negotiating team, could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.
Join the Observer-Reporter’s conversation about education at our blog at http://www.observer-reporter.com/or/behinddesk/.
Teachers struck for two days earlier this year, which led to the arbitration. The two sides have not reached agreement on salary, health care, retirement incentive and length of the contract.
As a part of the arbitration, the board and union each made a last best offer. The arbitration panel also considered a recommendation by an independent fact-finder, Matthew M. Franckiewicz.
The arbitration panel had to choose one of the three options and selected the fact-finder’s report, said Andrew MacBeth, a spokesman for the union.
Franckiewicz’s report calls for starting teachers to get a $1,075 increase this year to $34,096. It calls for the maximum salary to be $73,942 this year, an increase of $960. To receive the maximum salary, a teacher must have a doctorate. No McGuffey teachers have a doctorate.
It calls for the starting salary to be $41,789 in 2013-14, the last year of the contract. That year, it calls for the maximum salary to be $79,243.
The report calls for the monthly health insurance premiums to stay the same this year and next year at a cost of $15 per month for single coverage and $30 for any other coverage. It would jump to $20 and $40, respectively, for the next two years of the contract and to $25 and $50 for the last year of the contract.
Both sides voted on that fact-finder’s report earlier this school year – the union supported it and the board said it was unaffordable.
The union again voted in support of the fact-finder’s report Tuesday night, MacBeth said. Both sides have 10 calendar days from when the arbitration panel’s recommendation was issued to consider the report, he said. The report was issued Friday. If either side doesn’t vote on the panel recommendation, then it is considered rejected, he said.
MacBeth said that means the board has until Monday to take action on the report. Should the board not approve the recommendation, the teachers will strike again before the end of the school year, he said. The union must give a 48-hour strike notice before the strike can occur, he said.
He said the teachers are pleased with the arbitrators’ recommendation and teachers showed their commitment to ending the impasse by approving that recommendation.
“By choosing the fact-finder’s proposal, the neutral arbitrator once again has confirmed that this compromise works best for our students, our community and our members,” MacBeth said. “Now it is time for the school board to do the same.”
School board member Doug Teagarden, who is on the board’s negotiating team, could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.
Join the Observer-Reporter’s conversation about education at our blog at http://www.observer-reporter.com/or/behinddesk/.
posted by Dawn Keller at
6:15 PM
1 Comments:
The school board needs to stand its ground. It's silly to think that an annual salary for every teacher can rise nearly $1,000 per year per teacher and the tax rate remains the same.
Also, it's galling that the teachers union does not pay more into their health care. That money comes out of the pocket of every taxpayer in the district and it makes no sense.
It's time for teachers to get into the real world after having such a cushy situation over the past decades.
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