In an unprecedented move, the WW-P school board has renegotiated contracts with its teacher and administrator unions to create savings of more than $1 million in the upcoming budget.
At its March 9 meeting, the school board approved, by an 8-1 vote, the contracts with the WW-P Education Association, which represents 875 employees, including teachers, school nurses, guidance counselors, athletic trainers, occupational therapists, and physical therapists, as well as the WW-P Administrators Association, which represents 39 principals, directors, and supervisors.
Salary raises will be frozen for the first six pay periods — a 12-week period beginning September 1, 2010, for the two unions. The teachers’ current contract, set to expire in June, 2011, will be extended to the 2011-’12 school year. That year, teachers will receive a 3.38 percent increase.
The board also said it came to an understanding with its central office staff, which is not represented by a union, to find areas of savings by April, when contracts for those employees are reviewed.
“Although they were not obligated, the leadership of the Education Association and Administrators Association came forward and agreed upon ways to reduce costs without impacting the educational program,” said Board President Hemant Marathe. “Our settlements responded to the current economic times. The associations agreed to open their contracts for negotiations on salary and benefits — a clear recognition and response to the difficult financial times present in New Jersey.”
The board and Superintendent Victoria Kniewel described the move as an expression of “collaboration” in all areas of the district.
The move was criticized, however, by Board Member Todd Hochman, who cast the lone “no” vote against the new contracts, as well as members of the unions representing the district’s custodial and maintenance employees. They have been trying to negotiate a new contract for nearly two years.
Calling the move “short-sighted” and “ill-conceived,” Hochman said the new contract should include contributions to health benefits from teachers and administrators, which is not required under the terms of the re-negotiated contract.
The approved revised settlement with the teachers’ union for the first six pay periods of 2010-’11 will save some $775,000. The total savings in the re-negotiated contracts will total over $1 million, as the union also agreed to forgo the professional conference benefit for the 2011-’12 school year. That will result in a savings of $200,000.
Prior to the re-negotiated settlement, under the terms of the three-year contract agreement reached in June, 2008, the Education Association members had been scheduled to receive a 4.7 percent salary increase for the 2010-’11 school year.
As for the contract negotiated with the WW-P Administrators Association, the members of the union will also forgo the previously negotiated salary increases for the first six pay periods in 2010-’11 and reduce professional conference benefits, for a savings of approximately $80,000. Under the terms of the old three-year contract agreement reached in June, 2008, the Administrators Association was to receive a salary increase totaling 3.8 percent for the 2010-’11 school year.
The administrators’ contracts were also extended a year. Now, for the 2011-’12 school year, the members of the union will receive a salary increase of 2.9 percent.
As for the central office administrators, their compensation is set annually by the board, which will determine their compensation after its reorganization meeting in April. “This group of administrators has already taken steps to contain cost increases in health insurance and will make comparable adjustments in salary as those agreed upon by the Education and Administrators Associations,” stated a press release from the district.
“The collaboration between and among board members, the administrators association, education association, and central office administrators demonstrates the value we all place on the teaching and learning that takes place in WW-P,” said Kniewel.
WW-P Education Association president Debbie Baer said during the March 9 meeting that the union members are willing to contribute over $1 million “so even in these ongoing difficult economic times, we can come together to support the district.”
High School South Principal Chuck Rudnick, representing the administrators association, said that his association will have saved the district some $100,000. He said that the move allows the board to focus funding on the students and the reputable education offered to them.
“The concern and willingness in all parties during this difficult economic year is really appreciated,” said board Vice President Bob Johnson. “They offered to give back to help us out.”
But not everyone was impressed. Hochman cited a new bill moving through the state legislature that would require public employees to contribute 1.5 percent of their salaries to their health benefits once their current contracts expired.
The renegotiations resulted in a contract that was extended for another year with a “hefty 3.38 percent salary increase for 2011-’12,” and “they’re still not contributing a single penny towards their health insurance premiums,” said Hochman.
“The contract was expiring at the end of next year,” said Hochman. “If the bill passes, which I think it will, it would not take effect until after the current contract expires.”
He said approving the contract now is the board’s way of “shoving it in right before the new law takes effect.”
Hochman pointed out that federal employees are required to contribute 25 percent of the cost of their health benefits. “Talk about a sweetheart deal,” Hochman said of the new contracts.
Marathe maintained that the teachers did not have to come to the table at all, but were willing to do so to help the district. “Overall, we still feel it’s a win-win situation,” Marathe said.
The members of the WW-P Service Association, representing the custodial staff who face the possibility of losing their jobs if the school board decides to outsource the work, were also unhappy. They criticized the board for what they believe is the board’s acceptance of a fair giveback from teachers but its unwillingness to negotiate fairly and ask for givebacks from the custodians that are reasonable.
Susan Levine, the association’s president, said the board accepted “realistic standards for the teachers and administration.” In order to give as much as $1 million back to the school district (like the teachers), the union, made up of a little more than 100 employees, would have to accept zero percent salary increases for three years and a 20 percent decrease in the last year of a proposed contract. “And you wonder why we cannot settle.”
The district has gone out to bid for custodial, maintenance, grounds, and management services, opening bids last month, but no decision on privatization has been made yet.
Warren Mernone, a member of the union’s negotiation team, criticized the board for ignoring the union’s pleas to negotiate. And, he said, “if we do get fired, I don’t think the taxpayers’ rates are going to go down.”
Ramon Garcia, also a custodian in the district, criticized the board’s use of the word “collaboration.”
“We’ve been negotiating for nearly two years,” he said. “Where’s the collaboration?” He said the teachers and administrators made their deals, but the custodians “are paid a pittance,” and should not be required to give back as much as employees who make a lot more.
Sherri Bailey, a secretary at South, said the secretaries have been working very hard, picking up more work as positions are reduced through attrition. “We’ve been giving back for 10 years, and no one thanked us.”
