Neshaminy Teachers Negotiations

From the BCCT this morning

NESHAMINY
Teachers, school board resume talks
The state fact-finder proposes a 3-percent increase in pay and no charge to the teachers for health care premiums.
By RACHEL CANELLI

Back to the table.

Since neither side has formally accepted a fact-finder’s recommended teacher labor contract, the Neshaminy school board and the Neshaminy Federation of Teachers will resume negotiations. Meanwhile, the report of state-appointed fact-finder John Skonier was made public Monday.

The three-year proposed deal calls for a 3 percent salary increase but no change to the health care package, under which the union does not contribute to its health care premiums, officials said.

Skonier’s report also suggests a 3 percent increase for the co-curricular salary schedule and leaving the excused absence policy and the teachers’ assignment schedules as is.

While the administration has rejected the proposal, the teachers have not accepted or rejected it. That counts as a rejection, according to the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board.

To have a new agreement, both sides would have to accept everything Skonier recommended. They can’t pick and choose pieces of his suggestion.

The newspaper was unsuccessful in reaching school board President Richard Eccles for further comment.

But on a Web site created by the board to keep residents posted on contract talks, members claim they said no to the proposal for the following reasons: health care, and a lack of addressing the step schedule, the retirement incentive package, the length and number of workdays and automatic salary credit for graduate level courses that are not part of a formal master’s degree program. The step schedule is a pay raise process teachers use based on experience and education.

“We look forward to good faith bargaining with the union in order to reach agreement on a contract that is fair and equitable to all, including staff, Neshaminy taxpayers and students,” a note on the site said.

The newspaper was also unsuccessful in reaching NFT President Louise Boyd for comment.

Both sides have another five to 10 days to accept Skonier’s findings, according to the board’s lawyer, Charles Sweet. He also spoke for Pennsbury in 2005 when that district’s teachers struck for 21 days. Tom Jennings is representing the union, administrators said.

The school board and the union are expected to resume talks under the supervision of state-appointed mediator Jill Leeds-Rivera, who was also involved in the Pennsbury bargaining.

If an agreement isn’t reached when the contract expires at the end of this month, the teachers will continue working under the old deal.

Under that pact, the average teacher salary is more than $81,000. But since at least 50 teachers at the higher end of the 11-step pay scale are retiring this year with another 20 leaving in January, that figure is expected to decrease. The average starting teacher salary is $51,976, when combined with experience and education, according to the district’s human resources department.

The top salary, which requires a master’s degree plus 30 credits, is approximately $95,923.


Although the teachers do not pay any percent of their health care premiums, they do pay $15 for co-pays and $5 and $20 for generic and brand-name drugs, respectively, through Personal Choice, as reported by the district’s human resources department.