The teachers’ union and school board in South Burlington were back at the bargaining table Friday afternoon on the fourth day of a teacher strike in the city.
The parties’ negotiations restarted on Thursday with an 11-hour session, following more than a week without movement in the talks. Compensation and benefits are the sticking points; in particular health care, and how — or how much — to offset the cost of the South Burlington Education Association’s preferred plan.
All school-related activities were cancelled on Oct. 14. On Thursday, Superintendent David Young announced he would reinstate student activities and athletics on Friday.
“I am reinstating student activities at this time because academic days of instruction will be made up, yet the events within the co-curricular schedule will not,” Young said in a statement Oct. 16. “Many of these programs are approaching culmination, and I do not want these important experiences to be lost.” Details are available on the high school and middle school websites.
In a written statement through his deputy chief of staff, Susan Allen, Gov. Peter Shumlin lamented the situation and reiterated his preference to disallow public school teachers from striking.
“The governor has said in the past that he favors a ‘no strike/no imposition’ policy for Vermont teachers, similar to the procedures that apply to state workers,” Allen said. “Requiring both sides to mediate, seek agreement, and be subject to a process for resolution when no agreement can be reached seems fair to teachers and fair to management, and far better for our students and communities than strikes.”
The Vermont chapter of the National Education Association, with which SBEA is affiliated, regarded this stance as offensive. “Just so we’re clear, our friends should know that talking about outlawing teachers’ strikes is disrespectful to our brothers and sisters who are walking the picket lines,” Vermont-NEA representatives said on social media sites Friday afternoon.
SBEA would like to use a July fact-finder’s report as the basis for a new contract. The school board has not agreed to the union’s request for mediation.
Immediately preceding the strike, the union accused school board members of shirking its responsibility to negotiate by coming to a bargaining session unprepared. SBEA filed a complaint to that effect with the Vermont Labor Relations Board, to which the school board responded Thursday with a two-page rebuttal.
On Friday, the school board issued a statement summarizing three options currently under consideration:
1) A three-year proposal by the Board that increases salary by 7.58 percent, increases the teachers’ contribution to health care premiums to 17 percent in the second and third years, and adjusts the salary schedule index in the second and third years to move more of the salary to junior teachers. The proposal represents approximately $2,034,000 of new money toward total compensation – health care and salary.
2) A three-year counterproposal by the Association that seeks an increase of salary of 10.2 percent, increases the teachers’ contribution to health care premiums to 16.5 percent in the second year and 17 percent in the third year, and adjusts the salary schedule index in the third year. The proposal represents approximately $2,500,000 of new money toward total compensation.
3) A one-year contract proposed by the Board that provides a one-year increase of 2.45 percent in new salary money. It also increases the health care premium contribution to 17 percent and changes the index at the end of the first year.
CORRECTION: The Vermont-NEA, not the SBEA, issued statements about the strike on social media sites.
