Mediator will try to bring 2 sides together on 5-year agreement

Photo by Tom Rivers: This sign on West State Street shows support for Albion teachers for a new contract with the school district.

ALBION – The Albion Teachers’ Association and the school district are about $1.4 million apart as they try to reach agreement in a new five-year contract. That is less than $300,000 a year in what teachers are seeking and the district is proposing.

Both sides would like to reach a deal soon. The teachers have declared an impasse and an arbitrator will try to bring the teachers and district to agreement.

Albion teachers are seeking raises that reflect the cost-of-living increases and also the extra workload as the district demands more time each day for teachers to be in the classroom. (The first year of the contract would be an extra 10 minutes, and then 20 minutes from years 2 to 5.)

“As a union we would like to work this out with the district,” said Bruce Pritchett, a middle school social studies teacher and vice president of the union. “They are our colleagues. We don’t want strife. We want to get back to being 100 percent focused on kids.”

Mickey Edwards, the district superintendent, was an art teacher at Albion and a member of the Albion Teachers Association before going into school administration. Edwards said he values the teachers and wants them to be fairly paid.

The new contract needs to allow the district to stay within the state-imposed tax cap of about 2 percent annually. The new contract will set the floor for future contracts and the commitment from local taxpayers, Edwards said.

“My hope is we reach a conclusion that is fair and fiscally responsible for both parties and the community,” he said. “It’s about sustainability and being fair to the community.”

Albion hasn’t increased what it collects in property taxes in 18 of the last 20 years. The district has benefitted from steady increases in state aid, but Edwards said there is no guarantee that will continue in the future with the state.

“Every year you don’t know what’s coming out of the Governor’s Office,” he said.

The teachers have been without a contract for over a year. They still get their regular step increases and all other benefits while there isn’t a contract except teachers on the highest step of 24 because there isn’t a step increase for them. The district said the steps are an average of 3.8 percent (ranging from 2.6 to 10.6 percent).

The district is proposing in the new contract the regular pay hikes with step increases, plus additional raises of 6.9 percent in the first year, 3.3 percent in the second year, 3.5 percent the third year, 3.3 percent the fourth year and 3.4 percent in the fifth year. The total increase over the 5 years would be 22.1 percent or $2,742,032.

The ATA is seeking a contract that would be about $1.4 million over what the district is offering. The ATA is seeking the usual salary steps plus a 4.8 percent increase the first year, and then 10 percent the second year, 5.7 percent the third year, 4.7 percent the fourth year and 4.7 percent the fifth year.

The ATA negotiating team on Nov. 26 agreed to the district’s contract offer. The district and ATA’s negotiating team reached a tentative agreement on Nov. 26. But that agreement was rejected by a 3-to-1 ratio on Dec. 11 by teachers, who have since picked a new negotiating team.

The team met with district leaders and representatives three times in June but were unable to resolve differences. The ATA then declared an impasse.

The district wants teachers to work more instructional time because the district currently is close to the 990-hour minimum for the elementary school and 900-hour minimum for secondary levels, Edwards said. If there is a snow day or other emergency, Albion is cutting it very close to meet the minimum standard, Edwards said.

Longer school days for teachers

The district wants to add 10 more minutes of classroom instruction the first year of the agreement and then 20 minutes beginning the following year. Edwards said it will be determined how the extra time will be added, perhaps with earlier start times of the school day and later end times.

Pritchett said that added time represents 4.7 percent more time in the classroom for teachers. The contract should reflect that additional workload, as well as the cost-of-living increases that he said are about 4 percent.

The district in recent years has underspent its budget on teacher salaries, which has helped the district amass about $52 million in reserves, Pritchett said. The past school year, the district underspent the total $45 million budget by about $9.5 million, he said. The State Comptroller’s Office has faulted the district for having too much money in reserves.

The teachers union wants to see the district spend what it budgets on teacher salaries and other needs in the district, Pritchett said.

“I don’t think we are being unreasonable,” he said. “If they just spend what they have earmarked for teachers.”

Impasse declared, next steps

On June 24, the district team and ATA met without resolving their issues. The ATA declared an impasse.

The district first wanted to address four matters previously identified: physician verification of sick leave, sick leave bank committee representation, nonresident children’s enrollment, and the extracurricular activities schedule.

Since the impasse was declared, the Public Employment Relations Board has appointed a mediator, Gregory Poland, to meet with both parties and narrow the issues in dispute.

If mediation does not resolve the impasse, a neutral fact-finder holds hearings, reviews each party’s position, and issues public, non-binding recommendations for settlement.

The parties may reach agreement at any stage – during mediation, after fact-finding, or through continued direct bargaining, the district was advised during last week’s Board of Education meeting by Karl Kristoff, a labor relations specialist for Orleans/Niagara BOCES.

Pritchett said the ATA would like to see the contract be settled without going into a drawn-out mediation process. A date hasn’t been set by the mediator for the two sides to meet. He has been told it could be three to six months before the mediator sets up a meeting.

“I would love to work this out before Thanksgiving,” Pritchett said. “It would be another thing to be thankful for. We are willing to sit down and discuss time and money, which are the two biggest issues, and then discuss the other things.”