By:Al Wicklund
MONROE The Board of Education and its employees’ union, the Monroe Township Education Association, have two meetings scheduled with a state mediator in an effort to settle a contract that has been a matter of negotiation for almost a year.
The negotiating committees for both sides are scheduled to meet with a mediator appointed by the state Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) Jan. 9 and 16, board President Susan Cohen said Wednesday.
The MTEA rejected a proposed contract Dec. 14 by a lopsided 377-19 vote.
The contract called for a 5 percent increase in the first year of the three-year contract and pay raises of 4.5 percent in each of the next two years.
Caren Castaldo, MTEA co-president, said last week her members felt the proposed contract would not close the salary gap the district has compared with other school districts in Middlesex County and would cause the loss of education personnel to other districts.
“My members felt we would not be competitive under the proposed contract,” Ms. Castaldo said.
The old contract expired June 30. The teachers and other board employees have continued working under the terms of that agreement since July 1.
