Northern Burlington County Regional Teachers Association rejects latest contract offer due to salary and prescription drug disputes.
By: Eve Collins
MANSFIELD Contract talks between the teachers union and the school board broke down at 3 a.m. Tuesday, with the two sides unable to resolve their differences over prescription drug co-pays and the creation of a salary guide.
The Northern Burlington County Regional Teachers Association (NBCRTA) rejected the latest settlement offer made by the Board of Education’s negotiation committee, said the union president, Alex DeVicaris.
The union’s previous three-year contract expired June 30 and its members have been working under the terms of the old contract ever since. A state-appointed mediator was assigned to the case in September to assist with negotiations.
With no new talks with the mediator scheduled, officials say the dispute could be referred to a state-appointed fact-finder, the next step in the process overseen by the Public Employment Relations Commission.
NBCRTA represents 168 teachers, nurses, librarians and guidance counselors in the district. The district serves students in grades seven through 12 from Chesterfield, Mansfield, North Hanover, Springfield, and McGuire Air Force Base.
The latest offer proposed a salary package containing a 15.6 percent pay increase a 5.2 percent raise for each year of the three-year contract. The proposal would raise the average teacher salary to $58,096, district officials said.
"It was surprisingly disappointing," said Superintendent James Sarruda. "The board has a settlement offer on the table."
Some issues the educators would not agree to were a $5 increase in prescription drug co-pay and the production of a salary guide, Mr. DeVicaris said.
In a statement to residents, the school board said it requested the $5 increase in the co-pay of the prescription plan as "cost containment change."
"This change will help control part of the cost for the existing, fully paid medical, prescription and dental insurance which the district provides," according to the statement. The insurance plans cost the district more than $17,850 per year for employees who have family health insurance coverage, officials said.
Also at issue, is a salary guide, a pay scale that public employees advance along each year. Northern does not currently have an adopted salary guide for its educators, as most school districts do.
School board member Henry Strasser, who is on the negotiating committee, said in other districts, teachers make guide proposals for review by the board. "Guides are usually developed by the unions," he said. "We put together a number of them at different levels."
Dr. Sarruda said the board was not opposed to reviewing salary guides. "But we cautioned them at the beginning of negotiations that it is a very complicated process."
Another related issue discussed Monday night was longevity pay, Mr. DeVicaris said. "When the teachers have taught for a certain period of time, they get an increase in salary as a reward for staying in the district," Mr. DeVicaris explained. "The board wants us now to pay out a percent for that longevity cost. They want us to pay for staying with the district."
Dr. Sarruda said longevity pay was factored in the guide, at the 20- and 25-year service levels. The teachers currently are given longevity at a lot of different stages of employment, he said, but they never had scheduled increments of pay increases because there has never been a salary guide.
"It’s not like we’re deducting longevity from the settlement," he said.
Mr. DeVicaris said although the settlement offer included pay increases something the educators have been fighting for the other proposals were unacceptable.
"Our members were offended by the offers coming from a board that says (it) cares about the teachers," Mr. DeVicaris said on Tuesday. The union would be meeting to determine what further action should be taken, he said.
Students and teachers alike have been protesting the stalemate in negotiations throughout the school year.
Most recently, the educators have stopped working with students before and after school, working only within the contract hours of 7:30 a.m. to 2:35 p.m., an action officials said only hurt the students.
"Right before Christmas, these job actions started hurting the kids," Dr. Sarruda said. "I think it’s time to put that stuff away and start working out these problems."
Mr. DeVicaris said he could already see the impact the stalemate has had. "Some of our younger teachers are seeking employment elsewhere," he said.