New Berlin Board Imposes QEO on Teachers
New Berlin West High School Teacher Dale Destache sends a message
to the School Board. |
The New Berlin School Board "demonstrated its disdain for free and
fair collective bargaining" by becoming the 46th district in the state
to impose a Qualified Economic Offer on its teachers for 2001-03, the New
Berlin Education Association said Tuesday (May 13, 2003).
In a statement, the NBEA said the board originally filed
a petition for interest arbitration, which was followed by several meetings
with a state appointed mediator.
"We can only conclude that after going through
mediation and hearing the union's evidence concerning the unfair nature
of the board's offer, that they have concluded they could not win an arbitration
hearing. So rather than engage in free and fair collective bargaining,
this board has chosen to resort to government-imposed wages and working
conditions."
The QEO law allows a school board to avoid arbitration
by offering a contract settlement that meets minimal requirements of the
law, which is generally a 3.8% total salary and benefit increase. Because
of sharply higher insurance costs and what the union says is the district's
unfair projection of costs in calculating the QEO, the package provides
average salary increases of just 1.3% in 2001-02 and 0.23% in 2002-03.
In a letter to the board earlier in the week, the union
stated: "We cannot, and will not accept the employer's last offer.
Nor will we capitulate in the face of threats of government imposed salaries
and benefits. Unless this district can deal fairly with the question of
the sixth class assignment, 40 hours of free in-service time, and offer
competitive salary and pay increases, we will not have a voluntary agreement."
The union wanted to continue the arbitration process.
"Rather than try to reach a voluntary agreement, this district will
impose an agreement that is unfriendly to families of New Berlin teachers,"
according to the union's statement.
In addition to salary increases that continue a trend of falling behind
inflation, the contract includes concessions in working conditions. It
deletes protections against the assignment of six (or more) classes, thus
eliminating important time teachers need to prepare for classes. It also
converts teacher assigned "duties" to instructional time.
"They have increased the number of classes teachers can teach in
the high school and middle school, which takes away from time with our
families and decreases our ability to deal with the families of our students,"
the union said.
The letter to the board added, "While we were hopeful that we could
reach a voluntary agreement, this now seems remote. We therefore challenge
you to put your proposal before an arbitrator, and we will do the same
with ours. Failure to resolve this through free and fair collective bargaining
will only lead to greater labor strife in this district."
Posted May 20, 2003