The Daily Local (dailylocal.com), Serving Chester County, PA
Teachers reject fact-finding report
Unionville-Chadds Ford contract talks struggling
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
By WM. SHAWN WEIGEL, Staff Writer
Contract negotiations between the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District and the teachers' union have hit another snag.
On Monday night, the school board unanimously accepted the results of the Pennsylvania Labor Review Board's fact-finding report.
The Unionville-Chadds Ford Education Association, however, rejected the report.
The teachers union requested the fact-finding report in December after reaching a stalemate in contract negotiations with the district.
Teachers in the district have been working without an updated contract.
Superintendent Sharon Parker said the district is still "engaged in the continued process of discussion and negotiation"
The contents of the report have not been made public.
Ruthann Waldie, UniServ director for the Pennsylvania State Education Association's southeast region, said the arbitrator did not accurately review the information provided by both sides and, in some cases, used outdated statistics.
The fact finder compared current teacher salaries to per capita income from 1999-2000, Waldie said.
"There were a lot of inaccurate things in the report, and (the association) really struggled with that," Waldie said. "She used false information to base her findings on, and that is very discouraging."
Waldie said the fact-finding process is generally used to help bring the parties closer together, but it failed this time around.
The next step, Waldie said, is for the union to take another vote after a brief "cooling off" period. That vote must occur within the next 10 days.
"What happens after that is we get back to table and try to negotiate a settlement, which is the best way to do this," she said. "But this doesn't give us a place to meet together."
Mark Fitzgerald, labor counsel for the district, said that the board's motivation in voting 9-0 in favor of the report was a reflection of their desire to get things done.
"There were a whole bunch of issues in terms of changes to work day, tuition reimbursement, supplemental contract issues, that by approving the report, we are willing to put those off and maybe deal with them in the next contract negotiation. But we want settlement now, and that's what they board did," he said.
He added that while the association said they hope to reach a settlement though negotiation, seeking arbitration was their decision.
"We hope it can move the process on, hopefully quicker, but with the report rejected, it would mean a return to table at some point," Fitzgerald said.
Under Act 88, a state law that addresses arbitration policies, the rejecting party must take their second vote no less than five days and no more than 10 days after the initial report.
The fact-finders final report is to be made public in the next few days, officials say.
URL: http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2011/02/09/news/srv0000010881057.prt
2011 dailylocal.com, a Journal Register Property
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