The Daily Local (dailylocal.com), Serving Chester County, PA
Bargaining continues for teachers contract in U-CF
Unionville-Chadds Ford official updates progress
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
By Wm. Shawn Weigel, Staff Writer
Talks continue in the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District and the teachers association, with no end to negotiations in sight.
On Monday night at the district's regular business meeting, board member Frank Murphy said the two sides met several times over the last few weeks and that the sessions have been productive.
The discussions are hard, the discussions are difficult. But there's been a lot more give and take than in the past, a lot more useful conversation … than what we've seen at the beginning," he said.
Murphy said that the board is now faced with a nearly $1 million annual shortfall due to Gov. Tom Corbett's preliminary budget, which called for over $500 million in cuts to both public and secondary education.
"Out of a $70 million budget, you can do the math," Murphy said. "It certainly makes it harder to negotiate contracts."
He said the school board met with the association just before Monday's meeting for a productive session.
"Numbers were exchanged, thoughts were exchanged and we have pledged to each other to continue that process," he said.
Murphy also cited an incident at a board meeting several months ago, where a student in the district appealed to both sides of the argument to grow up and act like adults.
"The board took that to heart, and I'd like to say I believe the teachers association has taken it to heart as well," Murphy said.
The district and the association returned to the negotiation table last month after the union unanimously rejected the results of a fact-finder's report that came down in favor of the district.
The union continues to reject the district's proposed health care and benefits package, as well as salary increases and compensation for continuing education.
The teachers have been working under the terms of their last contract since it expired in June 2010. Negotiations have been ongoing since January of that same year.
URL: http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2011/03/23/news/srv0000011225282.prt
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