Bargaining Updates

bargaining notes

August 18, 2010 - Bargaining has been going on all summer. Issues of workload, planning, and health insurance are among the topics being addressed. We have also submitted language regarding splitting classes, submitting grades and updating the Parent Portal, Deans teaching classes, posting vacancies, years of experience, requesting subs, reporting personal illness to one source, clarifying reporting of child abuse, and the SIG Grant that will impact Oscar J. Pope. We will be tackling the FL-DAM Impact and Race To Top if Florida receives the grant. We will know that in September. Our next two bargaining dates are Aug. 23rd and Aug. 30th from 4:30p-6:00p at the PEA Office. More to come as we move forward!

health insurance update

PERC ruled on our Health Insurance ULP – The good news is WE WON every point!! The Bad News--The District has notified us that they are appealing the ULP decision in court.

We remain confident that we will ultimately prevail and that the District is simply losing more money by postponing the final outcome. While our attorneys handle the legal case, we remain at the bargaining table committed to negotiating an insurance plan that is fiscally sound and can be supported by the employees. We have been trying to expedite the process but it has been slow going.

We put a proposal on the table in June and still have not received a counter from the District. We have recently had some open dialog and received monetary data we asked for back in May. Again, we know that a financially solvent plan is essential but the plan must be viable and allow our employees to access health care at a reasonable cost. We also know that by committing this unfair labor practice the District has created a mess that will require months to untangle.

As we have news, we will pass it along. At this point we will continue working at the Bargaining Table.

deans teaching classes

We have been told that Deans have classes scheduled but no students assigned at this point. Unbelievably, with orientation tomorrow (8/19) and students starting on Monday, principals are still awaiting further clarification from the District before committing students to the schedule. We are hopeful, but on guard, while awaiting a final decision.

When PEA was first informed of this plan in June, we immediately responded with a “Demand to Bargain” the impact of this change and addressed concerns we knew would need to be discussed in bargaining. We asked all Deans to gather their input about the issues this would create, and, we conferred with Union legal counsel regarding the District’s right to make this change. A meeting was held with Deans at the PEA office on Tuesday, July 13th where we heard about many additional issues which would need to be addressed if this change was made. We do have a comprehensive proposal on the Bargaining Table to deal with the many concerns should this happen. The other major event in this process was a meeting on July 15th of the Instructional Issues Committee. The Instructional Issues Committee was bargained by PEA to address workload issues and includes several high level District Administrators including Dr. Nickell. For this meeting, we had prepared a presentation of the information for everyone to review regarding the problems/issues that would need to be resolved for Deans to be assigned a class to teach. By the end of this meeting, it was evident that the District would have more discussion internally prior to assigning Deans any classes. At many schools the only effective support teachers and support staff have for discipline is the Dean. So a part of this concern goes to maintaining classroom supports.

Unfortunately, budgets remain very tight and again we must remain vigilant regarding this or any other potential changes. PEA is only as strong and vigilant as our membership. I hope that you will help keep PEA informed on your issues and maintain a strong membership role within the organization.