Neshaminy Negotiations

From the BCCT.

I don't follow "As The Neshaminy Turns". It's hard enough keeping up with the plot twists on "One Morrisville to Destroy", but when the negotiations start out with "Go ahead, make my day" style pronouncements, it promises to be a less than cordial series of talks.

We should pay attention and watch this as it plays out. It's probably a preview of the Morrisville talks to come in a few years. Unless of course, by then it's the Pennsbury School District, but that's another story. And another soap opera to tune into. "All My Students" perhaps?

School board says it won’t budge
Neshaminy educators’ pay and benefits account for more than 80 percent of the district’s budget.
By RACHEL CANELLI

They’re not budging.

After the Neshaminy Federation of Teachers recently rejected the school board’s latest health care and salary offer and proposed a counter offer of their own, board President Ritchie Webb told the newspaper’s editorial board last week he believes there’s solid unity on the board to stick to its guns.

Webb’s fellow board members were quick to agree.

“The current contract … has drained the blood from taxpayers,” said Frank Koziol. “I have dug in my cleats and clamped down on my mouth piece. Reggie White couldn’t budge me. I think the only reason we only have nine votes is because [there aren’t] 10 people on the board.”

While union President Louise Boyd also was invited to meet with the newspaper’s editorial board, she declined, saying she meant no disrespect to the public, but it’s the 700-plus educators’ policy to negotiate directly with the district — not through the media.

“Unfortunately, the district has been unwilling to move this process forward in as timely a manner as the (NFT) has strived to achieve,” Boyd wrote via email. “Quite frankly, we’re disappointed that the district has chosen to be more proactive in communicating with the media than with the (union’s) negotiations team.”

Either way, board members said they’re not willing to move from a position of providing teachers with a 1 percent annual salary increase, plus about 2 percent for step increases for longevity and educational training, and asking them to contribute 15 percent to their health care premiums the first year of a proposed three-year deal, 16 percent the second year, and 17 percent in the last year.

Since Neshaminy is the only district in Bucks County where employees pay nothing toward those insurance premiums, board officials said they won’t even consider the teachers’ counter-offer of keeping the medical and drug package status quo and giving 6 percent annual salary increases, including steps.

“This board has never been as unified as it is now,” said William O’Connor. “And since there will be no retro pay, I sincerely hope the NFT will return to the bargaining table with a renewed commitment towards compromise.”

Joseph Blasch, William Spitz and Susan Cummings all concurred.

The union members do pay $15 for doctor visits and $5 and $20 for generic and brand-name drugs, respectively, through Personal Choice, the district’s human resources department reported.

Although Webb said he values the teachers as quality people, he claimed the district simply can’t afford their requests due to a looming $14 million budget deficit.

Webb added that’s why the board is trying to eliminate the $3 million cost of providing retirees with full benefits until age 65 and another $1 million to allow educators to pay the $5 generic fee for $20 brand name drugs when generics aren’t available.

Boyd said the union’s negotiating team is ready and willing to keep talking.

“Our goal is to continue providing the students and the taxpayers of the Neshaminy School District with the highest levels of educational and professional standards possible,” said Boyd. “To that end, we will continue to make every effort on our part to negotiate directly with the district in an effort to secure a fair and equitable contract for our members.”

But board Vice President Kim Koutsouradis said Neshaminy School District needs to start taking care of its financial issues, beginning with the teachers.

Educators start in the district at about $51,976 and top out at roughly $95,923. The average Neshaminy teacher’s salary is $76,000, administrators said. The district pays at least $22,000 per year to cover a family of four’s health care. The average employer contribution for a similar package is roughly $12,700, according to the National Coalition on Health Care.

Neshaminy educators’ pay and benefits account for more than 80 percent of the district’s budget, officials said.

“I … can’t see giving a cent more than what was already offered,” said Koutsouradis. “Enough is enough and it’s time the teachers wake up.”