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Teachers, school board agree on new contract
Official signing should be complete in next week or two
By Stephen Seeber
Lititz Record Express
Published: May 08, 2008 11:11 AM EST
Warwick -
Warwick teachers and other school district professionals are very close to
finalizing a new four-year contract that includes a 3.99 percent annual
wage increase.
On Tuesday night, with sign-toting teachers parading
on the sidewalk outside the district office, the Warwick School Board
accepted a fact finding report from the PA Labor Relations Board. The
report basically reached compromises on sticking points in negotiations
between the school district and 282 members of the Warwick Education
Association (WEA).
"The purpose of them being here is not to
create a problem," said Lucie W. Brown, WEA president and reading
specialist teacher at Lititz Elementary, in regard to the teacher presence
outside the meeting. "Rather, they're there to
celebrate."
Warwick teachers have been working without a
contract since July 1, 2007 and they have been negotiating with the school
board since November of 2006. The recent fact finding report, conducted by
Alex Kaschock from Labor Relations, helped the two sides come to terms on
the following:
• Length of contract — Four
years
• Wages — 3.99 percent each of the four
years
• Working Spouse Rule — An employee's spouse
who has coverage available through their employer must pay $1,000 per year
to be eligible for Warwick School District coverage. This takes effect in
2009-10 school year.
• Fair Share — If WEA achieves 90
percent membership, Fair Share is implemented.
• Pre-Labor Day
Start — Beginning in the 2009-10 school year, staff will work one day
prior to Labor Day. Effective 2010-11 school year, staff will work two days
prior to Labor Day.
Additional items in the agreement
include:
•Employee medical contributions — Beginning in
2008-09, employees will contribute 4 percent of health care cost. Amount
rises to 6 percent at the end of three years. Contributions for family
coverage is set at 14 percent for the length of the
contract.
•Full pay sabbaticals are reduced from five per year
to two per year.
•The length of the teacher work day increases
by 10 minutes, effective the 2008-09 school year.
While the details
of the contract have been agreed upon by both the WEA and the school board,
it still needs to be signed, explained school board president Cathy
Ketterman. It should be ratified in the next week or two, she
added.
"This has been a long, arduous task," commented
school board member Dr. Karen Malleus, who headed the negotiations on
behalf of the school board, "but throughout the process everyone was
very professional."
Addressing the school board after
Tuesday's decision, Brown said since last July, everyone has been
working "through thick and thin" on an expired
contract.
"I need not tell you how highly-trained and devoted
and ever-flexible the staff is that is employed by the Warwick district.
They've always worked tirelessly on behalf of the children of this
community."
"What brought us here today was the fact
finder's report," Brown added following the meeting, "(which)
did not reflect exactly what the district was looking for, or exactly what
we were looking for. It was somewhere in the middle and we felt that we
should respect that.
"Economic issues were high on the list (of
sticking points), and two non-economic issues were high on the list, but
I'd almost rather wait for the fact finder's report to be
posted."
That report should be posted online by the PA Labor
Relations Board by Wednesday evening or some time on Thursday:
http://www.dli.state.pa.us/landi/cwp/view.asp?a=...
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