Punishment over Negotiations?

From the Inquirer. It looks like a long series of meetings ahead in Souderton.

But wait. Why should they have all the rancor and angst? There's a second story from the BCCT, and it looks like Morrisville can witness some of the Souderton tough love negotiations right here in our backyard. The Souderton solicitor is going to be representing the Pennsbury school board during this year's contract negotiations.

One of the comments left on the BCCT article provided some food for thought: "How is $77,000 a year, with a master's degree & 15 years of experience, making too much?" It's too much only to the people who wasted their own opportunity at gaining an education and now know it's too late. Bringing others down to their level of knowledge makes then feel better about their own poor choices.

Talks break down in Phila. area school strike

By Dan Hardy, Inquirer Staff Writer Posted on Sat, Sep. 6, 2008

Talks between striking Souderton Area School District teachers and the school board broke down yesterday morning after one hour, with no progress reported.

Negotiations likely will resume next week, said Bill Lukridge, president of the Souderton Area Education Association, but no date has been set. The strike began Tuesday.

The sides are far apart; the main issues in the 5,900-student district are wages and health-care benefits.

Each side blamed the other for the stalemate.

School board attorney and negotiator Jeffrey Sultanik said that because the strike is in progress, the school board brought up proposals at the session on how many teacher days would be made up, salary retroactivity, and health care payments.

"We had also requested that the union counter our salary proposal that we made on Labor Day, which they had never countered," Sultanik said. After state mediator Jill Leeds Rivera told the board that the union was not countering the salary proposal and not responding to the new strike-related proposals, "she suspended the talks," Sultanik said.

Rob Broderick, a staffer with the Pennsylvania State Education Association, said in a statement that "the school board came in and instead of negotiating what was on the table, threw new items onto the table related to what happens after the strike." He added: "The board is obviously more interested in punishing teachers than in negotiating."

The 512-member union's last wage proposal was for a 5.98 percent wage increase in the first year of a four-year agreement, 9.40 percent in the second year, 7.14 percent in the third and 6.90 percent in the fourth. The school board has proposed a three-year contract with increases of 2.5 percent each year.

The school board wants to eliminate the teachers' highest-tier health plan, and to institute higher premium contributions and more co-pays for the remaining two plans. The union wants to leave all three plans in place with the same percentages of premium contributions that are now in effect, and wants improvements.

Even if no agreement is reached, under Pennsylvania law the teachers must return to work by Sept. 24, in time for students to receive 180 days of instruction by June 15, 2009.

The Souderton strike is the only one in the Philadelphia area this fall, but on Wednesday, teachers in Delaware County's Springfield School District authorized their leadership to call a strike if necessary. No strike deadline has been set; a bargaining session Thursday night did not result in an agreement. No further talks have been scheduled.

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Souderton solicitor tapped for negotiations

By MANASEE WAGH
Bucks County Courier Times

Jeffrey Sultanik, the solicitor involved in Souderton's tense contract negotiations, will represent Pennsbury's school board during this year's teacher contract negotiations.

The district's previous contract negotiation in 2005 resulted in a 21-day teacher strike over a salary and benefits dispute.

Contract negotiations in Souderton, where Sultanik is representing the school board, have likewise come to a standstill.

Teachers there are on strike in part because their starting salaries are lower than those of other Montgomery County school districts. The strike has forced schools to remain closed.

The Souderton school board is concerned that teachers in the top tiers of the salary schedule will be overpaid if the union's proposal wins.

According to the union proposal, teachers with a master's degree at step 14 of a 15-step pay scale will receive a $17,280 pay increase.

The board proposed adding further steps to the salary schedule to prevent large differences in pay from one year to the next.

About 40 percent of district teachers are at the highest step.

If a resolution is not reached by Sept. 23, teachers will have to go back to work while arbitration proceedings begin.

At $77,524, Pennsbury's average teacher salary ranks within the top 10 of 727 school districts in the state.

In Souderton, the average teacher salary was $63,158, ranking at 55th in the state in 2006-07, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

The district hired Sultanik in late spring after interviewing three attorneys. He is a labor relations lawyer for municipal and school organizations.

“We were very impressed with him when we interviewed him. He seemed to be very well versed in contract negotiations and had a good reputation,” said Gregory Lucidi, Pennsbury's school board president.

Lower Makefield resident Simon Campbell, who closely follows teachers union activities, is pleased with Pennsbury's choice.

“I know a lot of the lawyers that negotiate these contracts, and he has a reputation for being a tough negotiator, which is a good thing. The local school boards are the last line of defense for taxpayers,” he said.

Campbell is president and founder of Stop Teacher Strikes Inc., a group that advocates making teacher strikes illegal in Pennsylvania, one of the 13 states that allow them.

He argues that teachers get paid too much and that union proposals for higher pay are a drain on taxpayers.

Lucidi anticipates starting some negotiation sessions with the Pennsbury Education Association in January so both sides can present their proposals. “We might even start with just a sit-down session to throw ideas around,” he said.

The Courier Times was unsuccessful in reaching union representatives after several attempts Friday afternoon.