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Information is surfacing about a logjam between the teachers union and School Committee, four months after the latest contract ended and two months after a “charge of prohibited practice” was filed with the state Department of Labor Relations.
The teachers have been operating without a contract since Aug. 31 when the 2014-17 agreement expired. Ongoing negotiations for a new contract have slowed due to what School Committee Chairman Terry Ryan called a “language issue.”
He would neither confirm nor deny that the issue has to do with the School Committee’s request to extend the school day by 15 minutes beginning in year two of the contract — a charge made on a Facebook discussion page.
Union President Mary McCusker declined comment.
“Our goal is to get a fair and just contract,” she stated. “Presently I would not like to comment on this issue, as I do not want to negotiate these items in public. We are working to resolve things…”
Following a successful vote in May for a permanent tax hike that would boost teachers salaries by 6 percent, the hangup in the contract comes as a surprise. School Committee members, this spring, had touted the override request of Proposition 2 1/2 as a way of smoothing the waters for upcoming contract negotiations.
Proposition 2 1/2 is a state law that limits annual property tax increases to 2.5 percent plus new growth.
In addition, the union, known as the Westford Education Association, is charging the School Committee with withholding the teachers annual salary increases mandated by the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
“Upon distribution of the first payroll in September 2017, the Association learned that the School District withheld teacher step increases mandated by the CBA,” according to the prohibited practice document filed with the Labor Relations Department on Oct. 18.
“They’ll get the raise when we have a signed contract,” said School Committee Chairman Terry Ryan.
The matter will go to arbitration at the Labor Relations Department, he said, and could take months to resolve.
Teachers’ salaries, otherwise known as steps, increase annually with each year of experience acquired. The salaries also increase based on the level of education acquired. The teachers have not received those annual salary increases, nor have they received the additional 6 percent raise from the tax increase.
During the 2016-17 school year, a teacher with a bachelor’s degree at step one would earn $42,611 annually, $48,935 with a master’s, and $54,081 with a master’s and 30 additional credits, according to the expired contract. At step 14 — the highest on the ladder — a teacher with a bachelor’s degree would earn $74,185 annually, $82,008 with a master’s, and $87,359 with a master’s and 30 years experience.
In May voters approved a $1.6 million override request to be collected over three years at $530,000 per year. The monies are earmarked for teachers salaries to make them commensurate with those paid to teachers in comparable communities.
Editor’s note: Terry Ryan is one of 11 candidates running for the third Congressional District. The others are:
- Abhijit Das, CEO of Troca Hotels;
- Rufus Gifford, former U.S. ambassador to Denmark;
- Steve Kerrigan, former Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor;
- Dan Koh, former chief of staff for Boston Mayor Marty Walsh;
- state Rep. Juana Matias, who represents the Sixteenth Essex District;
- Nadeem Mazen, former Cambridge city councilor;
- Lori Trahan, former chief of staff for Marty Meehan;
- Alexandra Chandler, a former Naval intelligence officer;
- state Sen. Barbara L’Italien, representing the Second Essex and Middlesex District;
- and Bopha Malone, vice president at Enterprise Bank.
UPDATE – A link was added to “Override Funds Earmarked for Teachers’ Paychecks, says Superintendent.”
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