{"id":1630,"date":"2011-02-09T16:44:33","date_gmt":"2011-02-09T21:44:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unionvilletimes.com\/?p=1630"},"modified":"2011-02-10T08:04:27","modified_gmt":"2011-02-10T13:04:27","slug":"schools-fact-finding-report-seems-to-support-board-position","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=1630","title":{"rendered":"Updated: Schools fact-finding report seems to support board position"},"content":{"rendered":"

Teachers rejected proposal that skews more closely to district offer on economic issues, union on work rules<\/em><\/strong><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Updated:<\/strong> Feb. 10, adds comments from teachers’ union.<\/em><\/p>\n

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com<\/em><\/span><\/span>
\n\"\"<\/a>EAST MARLBOROUGH \u2014 From a quick read of fact-finder Mariann E. Schick\u2019s proposed settlement between the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District and the Unionville-Chadds Ford Education Association, it\u2019s clear that neither side would have gotten exactly what it wanted had it formed the basis of an agreement \u2014 now somewhat unlikely after the teachers\u2019 union voted Monday to reject the proposal.<\/p>\n

The Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board released the complete text of the proposal Wednesday afternoon and while there were wins and losses for both sides, Schick seemed to largely buy the district\u2019s arguments when it came to salaries and health care benefits.<\/p>\n

The Unionville-Chadds Ford district released a statement Wednesday afternoon, reaffirming its position and noting that Schick had largely sided with them in a process called for by the teachers\u2019 union.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn December, the UCFEA Negotiating Team and UniServ representative Ruthann Waldie, initiated the fact-finding option,\u201d the statement said. \u201cThe Board has long sought a fair and reasonable compromise. The Fact-Finding report simply affirms the Board\u2019s position since January 2010 and a desire to bring lasting labor peace to the students, parents, and teachers of the District.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Unionville-Chadds Ford Education Association issued a statement early Thursday, saying the members had “difficulty” in accepting some aspects of the proposal.<\/p>\n

“The UCFEA membership wishes to maintain a Personal Choice plan, rather than move to an HMO,” statement said. “The Association\u2019s proposal included a cost-saving plan, different than their current plan, and very similar to a Personal
\nChoice\u00a0 plan recently given to administrators. Members are willing to pay increased premiums to meet this goal. Additionally, the membership was uncomfortable with Fact Finder Schick\u2019s recommendation for \u201chalf\u201d steps, which could potentially set precedent for a salary system that would take members thirty two years to attain the maximum salary.”<\/p>\n

While the board was willing go for a slightly higher bonus and third-year pay increase than it proposed, the union was unwilling to accept a half-step up the seniority ladder in years two and three of the proposed three-year pact. Approximately 70 of the district\u2019s 330 teachers are currently at the top of the salary range \u2014 currently paid $101,427 annually \u2014 would see little in the way of a salary increase, nothing this year and about 1% in each of the next two school years.<\/p>\n

Schick proposed:<\/p>\n

Year 1: <\/strong>Each employee shall receive a $1000 off matrix bonus. Prep-Level Movement for qualifying members of the Unit.<\/p>\n

Year 2:<\/strong> Employees shall move \u00bd step up the matrix and in addition, there shall be a 1% increase in each cell in the salary schedule. Prep-level movement for all bargaining unit members.<\/p>\n

Year 3:<\/strong> Employees shall move up the remaining \u00bd step, and there shall be a 1% increase in each cell in the salary schedule. Additionally, since those at Step 16 have received no benefit over the last 2 years of the Agreement from Step movement, they shall each receive a $1000 off matrix bonus. Prep level movement for all eligible bargaining unit members.<\/p>\n

\n

The UCFEA was seeking a full-step increase in both years, as well as across-the-board increases, but in coming in closer to the district\u2019s numbers, Schick cited \u201cthe current economic climate remains precarious with a substantial rate of unemployment\u2026in times such as these, the public purse, and of the taxpayers who contribute to it, must be respected and wisely and cautiously spent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schick did mostly side with the union on a number of non-economic issues, rejecting changes the board sought and retaining virtually all existing language for work rules, continuing education and advancement and supplemental contracts. Schick, a Philadelphia attorney, is one of the most experienced labor arbitrators in the tri-state region, and regularly hears labor arbitration cases in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.<\/p>\n

The complete report can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Teachers rejected proposal that skews more closely to district offer on economic issues, union on work rules Updated: Feb. 10, adds comments from teachers’ union. By Mike McGann, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com EAST MARLBOROUGH \u2014 From a quick read of fact-finder Mariann E. Schick\u2019s proposed settlement between the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District and the Unionville-Chadds Ford Education […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7,16],"tags":[44,42,24],"class_list":["post-1630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","category-schools","tag-school-board","tag-teachers-contract","tag-unionville"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}