Teachers weigh contract options
Wednesday, August 18, 2004 7:21 AM PDT
By Venice Buhain
Printable version
E-mail this articleRAINIER -- Insurance and early retirement are the major financial stumbling blocks left standing between Rainier teachers and administrators trying to forge a three-year contract.
Teachers say a strike is still possible because the district has not added money to any of its counter-offers.
The teachers made what they call "major concessions" financially to their previous proposal by agreeing to the district's three-year salary proposal, said union president Jen Nelson.
"We really feel the district is pushing us toward a strike vote," she said.
The union wants the district to contribute more for health insurance for teachers' families.
She said the union feels the district is overestimating the cost to meet the teachers' proposal. They pointed out that the district did not use all of the money budgeted last year for teacher benefits.
District administrators say the financial part of their proposal is "maxed out." They acknowledged they are offering to tweak health benefits so that families would pay a smaller percentage of the premiums -- but teachers without families would pay more.
"They did make concessions and we actually made adjustments based on what they had suggested," said board member Kelly Barnes, who is on the district's negotiating team.
"They are looking at a one-year budget; we're looking long-term," she said. "We used $750,000 to balance this budget -- we won't have $750,000 the next year."
"I don't see the board making a significant increase to the dollars we've put out there," Barnes said.
They also still disagree over the amount of time to phase out an early retirement incentive, which can pay up to 50 percent of a teacher's unused sick leave. The teachers want it phased out over 12 years, but the district wants it phased out over three.
Another point of contention is a clause that allows the district to shorten the school year in case of a financial crisis. Teachers want to set specific conditions on when the school year can be shortened, Nelson said.
A strike vote would be possible if the district imposes a contract after a 30-day "cooling-off" period, which began Aug. 11. The next round of mediation is Sept. 10, three days after school starts and one day before the end of the cooling-off period.
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