District, teachers agree to meet
Thursday, September 16, 2004 7:41 AM PDT
By Venice Buhain
Printable version
E-mail this articleRAINIER -- In an effort to settle a teacher's contract and head off a possible strike, Rainier teachers and administration Wednesday night agreed to meet again before a scheduled Oct. 1 mediation session.
School Board President Rod Harding, in a surprise move, said the school board was "100 percent" behind its negotiating team and offered to resume negotiations that very night, if the union could prepare an offer.
After the Rainier Education Association's negotiations team consulted with each other, teacher Sue Byrum said they were not prepared to negotiate Wednesday, but reiterated an offer made that evening to meet either of the next two weekends.
School Board Member Kelly Barnes, who is on the district's negotiating team, said they would let the teachers know sometime today when they could meet.
Teacher's union president Jen Nelson told the board during the meeting that 90 percent of teachers rejected the district's last offer during a vote of "direction" that took place over Monday and Tuesday. Nelson said earlier this week that while a walkout is a possibility, the teachers have not taken a strike vote and none is scheduled.
In a show of solidarity, the teachers, sporting black armbands and blue T-shirts with the words, "EDUCATION: a debt from present to future generations," stood while she spoke.
It appeared that most of the district's 62 teachers attended the meeting.
"I feel a black cloud come over the district," Nelson told the board, as teachers released black balloons to the ceiling. "I want that black cloud to go away. I want our current staff to afford to work in the district and I want to attract new teachers to our district. Not once in this negotiations or past negotiations has the REA wanted the district to go broke."
Nelson asked the board members to vote on the teacher's contract proposal, which the board unanimously rejected near the end of the meeting. The district did not vote to implement its latest contract proposal as it could have under Oregon law.
The union and the district have been negotiating a contract for seven months and meeting with a state mediator since July after talks broke down.
The district and the union have tussled over insurance premiums, early retirement incentives, district rights, whether the athletic director is an administrator and a clause that would allow the district to negotiate for cutting school days in case revenue falls short.
Though both sides say they have come closer on some of those issues, there are still wide gaps over others. The teachers have once again proposed a two-year contract while the district is holding fast to a three-year contract.
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