The Burlington teachers’ union says the Burlington School District board has failed to negotiate in good faith and filed a 13-page complaint with the labor board.
Earlier this month, the board imposed working conditions on teachers that the union says is “regressive.”
The one-two punch from the union comes before next Wednesday’s meeting with a mediator. Teachers would like to replace the imposed working conditions with a negotiated contract and avoid striking the next day.
Fran Brock, president of the Burlington Education Association says teachers are hoping to settle. “I certainly hope the board has the same goal,” Brock said in a statement.
In the complaint, the union describes what it sees as a pattern of the school board failing to negotiate in good faith.
The teachers union believes the school board purposefully “engaged in regressive bargaining,” imposed the contract a day too early, created conditions on the negotiations that made it impossible to come to a settlement and imposed working conditions that were “unlawfully different” from their final offer.
After learning of the teachers vote to strike, the school board stood by its final offer, stating in a press release, “Our final offer, after 14 months of negotiations, was reasonable and fair to the teachers and to taxpayers, and it allows the District to better meet the needs of our students.”
The school board added that it was “unfortunate” that the teachers found an average annual salary increase of more than $1,900 as unfair and disrespectful.
The Vermont Labor Relations Board will review the situation. If it chooses to hold a hearing and find in the teachers union’s favor then the school board would be required to pay their legal fees, admit they bargained in bad faith and illegally imposed working conditions, and return to the table to negotiate in good faith.
“It seems that the more than $50,000 the board’s leadership has spent on an anti-union consultant, a former superintendent and a bargaining advisor has brought them to this place,” Brock said.