Contract talks drag on to impasse
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Emporia National Education Association representatives and school district negotiators failed Monday evening to reach agreement on a compensation package for the current school year.
After 3 1/2 hours of discussing approximately 20 compensation options, ENEA head Bob Haselhuhn asked that the matter be declared at impasse.
“Is it worth trying to meet one more time or not?” Superintendent John Heim asked before the impasse paperwork began.
Steve Lopes, director of Six Rivers UniServe District for the Kansas National Education Association, was present during the meeting and produced an impasse form from the group’s Web site. The form was to be filled out and submitted in preparation for going to mediation.
The groups are free to meet and continue to discuss compensation until the mediator comes in, Lopes said.
“(The mediator) usually separates the parties and does the marriage counselor bit, trying to find middle ground between the parties,” Lopes said. “We had mediation over at Flint Hills Tech” within the past few months.
The mediator is provided at no charge to the district or the teachers. Lopes said the impasse notice could be filed by the teachers, by the school district or by both entities.
“It can be joint or single impasse,” he said. “It doesn’t really matter. ... If mediation fails, there’s an option for fact-finding. We won’t go there yet.”
Most of the disagreements on compensation stemmed from two factors: The district’s position is that the district does not have money available to pay for the compensation package favored by the teachers. The teachers who dissented said that the district’s preferred options would be like taking a pay cut, without receiving anything else in its place, like fewer work days.
Assistant Superintendent for Finance Rob Scheib, district lead negotiator, presented budget information to both groups when the meeting began, projecting the cost of certified salary schedule movement and percentages of increase applied to all personnel.
The total base salary for a starting teacher was proposed at $34,167, with a 1.089 percent increase.
An additional salary-base increase of $118 would yield a package percentage of 1.33 percent, he said.
With that base to work from, both teachers and administrators presented almost 20 variations of compensation plans, which were written on an easel pad by session facilitator Al Hanna, who also serves as assistant superintendent in the Overland Park school district.
For several years, administrators and teachers have used the Interest-Based Bargaining format to reach contract agreements. The partial contract for the current school year was accepted earlier by teachers and administrators, with only the compensation package remaining to be considered by the IBB teams.
Both sides earlier determined their separate and their shared interests in the outcome:
• Teachers and district representatives agreed that hiring the best staff, controlling class sizes and closing the financial gap between Emporia and other school districts all were within the best interests of both sides.
• A separate interest of teachers was the cost of living;
• The board’s separate interests were recruiting and retaining teachers, providing a quality education for students, being able to maintain compensation levels beyond the current year, avoiding reductions in workforce, maintaining good public perception, and maintaining quality health care.
IBB members were to consider all of those factors as they went through the consideration process.
The process involves a facilitator, who lists all of the options in detail on an easel pad, then walks both sides through the process by voting thumbs-up or thumbs-down — and often thumbs-horizontal to indicate a neutral position — on three issues they have agreed are vital to the negotiations. In Emporia, representatives voted on each option in the same manner: Is the plan feasible? Is the plan beneficial? Is the plan acceptable?
Many of the plans were either feasible or beneficial, but none gained acceptance.
Several plans proposed fewer hours for work days or Professional Learning Time, in exchange for the modest pay increase.
Teachers also wanted the district to pay more toward health insurance, to help compensate for a recent hike in premiums. The teachers had been paying $36 per month; that figure has been increased to $59 per month.
Many of the suggested compensation options were not accepted by the district because the money was not there to fund the cost, administrators said.
“We’re making less than we would have been last year,” teacher Gene Wirsig said.
Debra Marsh, speaking on behalf of teachers, looked for an alternative.
“It looks like we could almost agree on Option 2,” Marsh said. “We’ve got the base and the increase, but at the same time, we take it back to ratify and it won’t (be approved). OK, so if there’s no more money, it comes down to hours worked. So that’s kind of where we’re coming from. If the money’s not there, is there something else we can do?”
After brief questioning by Hanna, and an offer of additional caucus time, Haselhuhn spoke.
“I think we’re out of options,” he said. “We went through the process. It was close, but it wasn’t quite enough. I think we’d like to access the impasse procedure.”
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Posted by kseyetie (anonymous) on October 22, 2009 at 11:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"“We’re making less than we would have been last year,” teacher Gene Wirsig said." ====== Sad, but true. The legislature wants to cut hundreds of millions of dollars from education and social services next year, and each year thereafter if they they can get the votes as far as the eye can see. This is what 'smaller government' looks like. If new people don't get elected, or the public doesn't rise up to demand service, get used to this trend.
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