With the current contract set to run out at the end of the school year next month, the teacher’s union and the WW-P School District’s negotiating committee have been working to hammer out a new teachers’ contract since last December.##M:[more]##
But just when it seemed that a resolution was in sight, talks broke down over the issue of benefits for domestic partners of district employees.
The stalemate has blocked a proposed contract that includes an average salary increase of 4.85 percent for each of the three contract years. The proposed settlement had been facilitated by a mediator appointed by the state Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC).
A press release issued May 4 by the West Windsor-Plainsboro Education Association, the union that represents the nearly 850 teachers in the district, charges that the board has rejected teachers’ request for benefits for domestic, which are permitted under New Jersey state law. “The board is attempting to make domestic partner benefits a financial issue when in reality it is a fairness issue,” says Debbie DiColo, WWPEA president, as quoted in the press release. “We never discriminate against students or parents based on sexual orientation. Why should the board discriminate against teachers?”
According to the district, the contract is dependent on switching the heath coverage to the State Health Benefits Program (SHBP), which is contingent upon a number of critical timing decisions, including the acceptance of the change by all bargaining units in the district.
But the school district issued its own response on May 5, charging that the WWPEA is scuttling an all-but agreed upon contract over a single issue that makes the proposed agreement untenable. According to the district, the extension of coverage to domestic partners would cost taxpayers an additional $6,”000 to $8,”000 in premiums per covered domestic partner and reiterated that its present total health package does not need to be extended further. (Just what defines a “domestic partner” is clearly defined by the state.)
However, the board has offered to extend its coverage to domestic partners if the teachers’ union would agree to what the district calls “minor cost-containment changes” in the health package. This is something that the WWPEA has not embraced.
“Our members go above and beyond the call of duty every day for the students of the school district,” said DiColo. “The board holds us to a high standard which we consistently exceed, yet when it is time for it to fairly compensate us, it fails to meet the mark in dollars and diversity. The board just doesn’t value the excellence of its teachers.”
In its response, the district threatened that the union’s delay in accepting the proposed contract could jeopardize other elements — including what it calls “the size of the generous pay rate increase. Without the savings from moving to SHBP, the value of the settlement decreases substantially, and so every other part of what should be considered a highly favorable agreement by the teachers falls by the wayside. Essentially, we will be back at square one, and all of the other terms of the agreement have to come off the table, since they were based upon the economics of going to SHBP.”
“It would be quite unfortunate if the contract were to fall apart at this point,” said West Windsor board member Stan Katz, the chair of the board’s negotiating committee. “We feel we have given the teachers’ negotiations team several alternatives that would allow the issue to be resolved,” he said. “We still hope that the teachers’ negotiations team will come to some sort of closure on this last issue, and that we can proceed with the process of getting all the approvals to move to SHBP.”
But Katz warned, “If that becomes impossible, we will not be able to justify salary increases anywhere near the levels in this potential contract, or we will have to find several additional cost-containment measures in the health insurance area. Either way, I cannot imagine that the final contract would be as acceptable to both sides as this one would have been.”
The impasse will now require both sides to work with a fact-finder to reach a broader understanding of the issues on the negotiating table. “Time is working against both parties at this moment, and a really good contract for both sides could easily fall apart,” said Katz.
District Agreements
While negotiations with the teachers’ union was in the process of boiling over, the WW-P board managed to reach agreements with the West Windsor-Plainsboro Administrators Association (WWPAA) and the Support Staff Supervisors for three-year contracts.
The Administrators Association represents the district’s 42 principals, assistant principals, supervisors and directors. The new contract, agreed on by both parties on August 12, calls for salary increases of 4.45 percent the first year, 4.3 percent the second year and 4.25 percent the third year. It also further delineates vacation and sick leave pay-out at retirement for part-time administrators. The contract will be in effect from July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2008.
The Support Staff Supervisors Association represents just four district employees who supervise the district’s Building and Grounds Department and the Transportation Department. Their agreement, reached on April 19, calls for salary increases of 4.25 percent for the first two years and 4.2 percent for the third year.
The contract also stipulates that the assistant transportation coordinator will be changed from “hourly employee status” to “salaried employee status exempt from overtime.” The contract will extend to June 30, 2007. “Both sides had agreed to hold off on a new contract until an agreement with the other union was reached,” explains Gerri Hutner, the district public information officer.
Both contracts include increased deductibles for dental insurance and increased prescription drug co-pays, and allow for medical insurance negotiations to be reopened for issues of hospitalization, surgical and medical insurance benefits.
Top Honors For WW-P Schools
Six WW-P schools have been recognized as “2004 Just for the Kids — New Jersey Benchmark Schools” by the Business Coalition for Educational Excellence (BCEE). The awards are given for high student achievement on the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJASK), Grade Eight Proficiency Assessment (GEPA) and the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA) exams.
The six schools honored were Millstone River Elementary School and Village Elementary School, (NJASK); Grover Middle School and Community Middle School, (GEPA); and High School North and High School South (HSPA). The BCEE honored a total of 77 public schools on the state, each receiving a banner for their achievement.
