Mediation, Fact Finding ... Still No Agreement on Teacher's Contract

With the one-year anniversary of the expiration of a contract between the Warren Township Board of Education and the township education association looming, the two sides are still at loggerheads.

Last week, both sides presented their best, final offers to a state-appointed fact finder, who will issue a determination within a few weeks. This followed a mediation session earlier in the year, which also failed to find consensus.

At Monday's Board of Education meeting, board President Gregory Przybylski gave an update on the talks, and noted the board's position has been changed by new legislation. Initially, the board offered a 10.25 percent salary increase over the contract's three-year life, plus reimbursement of the 1.5 percent contribution from employees for medical benefits and acceptance of changing to the state medical benefits plan.

"That was not accepted by the WTEA at that time," Dr. Przybylski said. "We made it very clear as a board that we were trying to accelerate negotiations in advance of legislation so that we would be in a position to be able to offer such a package, and obviously, legislation has since been enacted which precludes us from offering that same type of package again."

He added the talks in the fall were "fast track" negotiations focused only on the salary and health benefits. 

The board has reached agreements with the associations representing the non-tenured staff and administrators, but no agreement has been reached with the largest group of the three.

"(During the fact finding) The board of education had offered within our cap over a three-year contract, and the last, best offer of  the WTEA was, on average, more than twice the cap," Dr. Przybylski said.

A second meeting with the fact finder is planned, sometime in August.

He aded the WTEA filed a labor grievance over the move to the state medical plan since it was not negotiated, but said the mediator had recommended including the change to the state plan as part of the negotiations, rather than handling it as a grievance. He also noted the WTEA reported a survey of its membership on the change in health plans, with members noting the increase in deductibles from $5 to $10, and an increase in total out-of-pocket expenses ($200 to $400), although none of the WTEA members reported reaching the maximum out-of-pocket expenses.

"We are interested in settling the contract but we also have to be responsible to the taxpayer, receptive to the legislature and the limits that they have imposed upon us," he concluded,  "and hopefully recognizing those, we will be able to come to a mutually-agreeable solution in the near future."

And as the anniversary nears, the WTEA members have been expressing their frustration more openly, with many gathering at the district administrative offices as a board negotiations committee met on June 8, the night after the fact finder's visit, to stage a protest.

Members have also been wearing buttons noting the lack of a contract during school days.

Representatives of the WTEA were not available for comment on Dr. Przybylski's update at the meeting, however,  letter posted to the group's website on Oct. 29, 2010, following the first round of mediation, reported the group's objection to the health plan change and took issue with other aspects of the board's position.

"One of the board’s proposals was to offer no salary increases or ones well below county average," the letter states. "Additionally, the board voted last March to move the members of the Warren Township Education Association into the state health benefits plan without negotiating this change. The plan is not equal to or better than our past coverage.

"If the board continues to stall the negotiations process, Warren Township may lose some of its brightest teachers and will have a very difficult time attracting new bright, dedicated teachers and staff.

"We are disappointed that the board’s negotiators are unwilling to come back to the bargaining table and work cooperatively to achieve a fair settlement. We recognize that we must all work together for the benefit of the district both during and after negotiations and urge the Board to join us in that effort."