U-CF teachers, district continue negotiations- Daily Local News 02/25/2011

The Daily Local (dailylocal.com), Serving Chester County, PA


U-CF teachers, district continue negotiations
Association twice rejected factfinder's report
Friday, February 25, 2011

By Wm. Shawn Weigel
Staff Writer

Negotiations continue between the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District and the education association, while the teachers continue on without an updated contract.

On Monday night, board member Frank Murphy said that both sides had met earlier that evening but did not give any idea as to how that meeting went.

Regarding the recently released factfinders report, twice rejected by the teachers' association, Murphy agreed the findings were more in line with what the district was willing to offer than with what the union was asking for.

He also said the report and the process proved more costly for the district than it initially thought.

"We believed that the additional money that was being requested by the factfinder from us was worth getting a contract and getting these negotiations behind us," Murphy said.

Where that puts things now, he said, is back at the starting point.

"We are going to continue to negotiate in good faith with our teachers. Our goal is to reach a contract that shows our teachers how much we respect them, want them and like them here," he said.

He added that while the board wanted the teachers to be happy in the district, that was only one element of the negotiations.

"We also need a contract that respects our taxpayers, and respects constituents … and that's the difficult part. But we will continue to try and get there."

Board member Jeff Hellrung said he felt the current contract offering from the union was unsustainable, and that he wanted to encourage the teachers to think seriously about the situation regarding the negotiations.

"If we did agree to a contract that was not sustainable over the long term, it would not be a good thing. It would have consequences in terms of jobs, in terms of class sizes … it's not good for the parents, it's not good for the students, and it's not good for the teachers."

On the economic side of the report, Hellrug said the factfinder gave the teachers "modest" pay increases, including scale movement, and preserved all key benefits except for the proposed new medical plan.

He added that all the noneconomic requests made by the board were denied in the interest of compromise.

"I just have to ask the teachers, isn't a three-year contract like that — the end of any labor conflict, the security of a three-year contract in very turbulent economic times — isn't that worth something?" Hellrung said. "Do you think that you'll get a lot more? How is that possible, with the revenue constraints that the school district is under? Do you think that you'll get a little bit more? Is it worth it to reject that contract to get a little bit more?"

Hellrung said that he couldn't imagine that any school board — or indeed any individual board member — would ever agree to a contract that is economically unsustainable.

"We know about the revenue stream coming in. If our biggest cost component is significantly more than that, it's a recipe for disaster," he said. "What school board would possibly agree to such a contract? How is that possible? What kind of worldview would make someone think that a school board would do this?"

He added that while the board often struggles with maintaining an economic balance, in this particular case there's no question.

"It's not close. Sometimes you have to agonize — should we do this? Is it worth it? Is this the right thing to do? It's not even close," he said.

Board member Keith Knauss responded to questions regarding a recent presentation he made to the school board, and whether he exaggerated some of his numbers.

"The district has examined the union's numbers (submitted to the factfinder) and has found that the union neglected to include the prescription plan, the vision plan, the dental plan, tuition reimbursement, and the whole cost of retirement contributions," Knauss said.

Simplifying the numbers, Knauss said that whether the proposed annual increase is 4.6 percent or 5.6 percent — figures proposed by the union and the district respectively — is immaterial.

"In this challenging economic environment, with the Act 1 index hovering around 1 percent, and with many residents experiencing cuts in their wages, it takes but a few seconds to look at the union's requests, look at the excessive costs, and say, 'no,'" Knauss said.

URL: http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2011/02/25/news/srv0000011010676.prt
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