Harmony Leads to Settlement in Colfax

By Terry Lawler
Perhaps it has to do with the fact that Colfax is located on the 45th parallel – midway between the North Pole and the equator – in a state of geographic balance and harmony.

Larry Glynn	Mark Mosey
James Woodford	Fred Andrist

Whatever the cause, the relationship between the Colfax School Board and Colfax teachers was indeed one of harmony and balance this year as they negotiated a 2003-05 contract that pleased both sides. The settlement provides a 1.8% per-cell salary increase in 2003-04 and a projected 2.8% in 2004-05, and a separate 3% raise in extra-curricular pay each year. There are no take-backs on insurance.

The board understands that in order to have a good school and educate students properly, there needs to be good staff morale,” said chief teachers’ negotiator Larry Glynn. Both sides believe that an imposed Qualified Economic Offer (QEO) is damaging to staff morale and ultimately damaging to the entire district, he said.

“We have very good communication with Dr. (Lee) Bjurquist, our superintendent, and our board,” Glynn said.

Bjurquist “acts as a go-between” for the board and the teachers and “finds what is reasonable to both” before negotiations begin. This way, Glynn said, “there are few surprises.”

“When all seven teacher negotiators meet with the board and Dr. Bjurquist, we work in a fairly relaxed atmosphere,” he said.

“We know all our board members personally,” added Mark Mosey, another negotiations team member. “Colfax is a very friendly, progressive community.”

“Everybody I work with here is supportive,” said Colfax Education Association President James Woodford. “We have wonderful facilities and equipment, and the staff appreciates the way we’re taken care of as far as classroom needs are concerned.”

Colfax, with 66 members, is part of West Central Education Association, a “single local” UniServ. Nineteen of WCEA’s units (three don’t participate) make up a board that approves or rejects contracts for all 19 districts.

“The single local board’s decisions are binding,” according to Glynn, a high school chemistry teacher. This process of overseeing all contracts “gives small locals a sense of security and coordination,” said WCEA Executive Director Fred Andrist.

Andrist has high praise for Colfax’s negotiators, whom he described as “highly skilled.” “WCEA has monthly training sessions for our bargaining teams. These training sessions keep all our negotiators up to speed.” But Colfax is “in a unique position,” Andrist said.

“I serve as a resource person and do not participate directly in negotiations. The Colfax people have a good working relationship with their superintendent and board.”

In addition to the salary increases gained in this bargain, the contract already includes some significant language changes. In the last bargain, the qualifier for retirement dropped from 20 years in the district to 15. Sick leave can now be accumulated to 150 days, up from 120. In addition, retirement or death reimbursement for unused sick leave days goes up from $12 to $50 per day.

Not everything in WCEA is rosy. Some districts have imposed QEOs.

“Colfax bargains,” Andrist said. “They don’t fall back on the QEO or threaten to use it.”

According to Glynn, his predecessor as chief negotiator, Tom Millar, and his team negotiated some significant improvements outside the regular contract negotiations. The district’s 125 Plan (banking pre-tax wage dollars for costs such as health and child care expenses) was negotiated separately because the teachers, Bjurquist, and the board felt it could bog down the rest of the talks. Glynn said the district “is not against doing anything if it’s money-wise.”

This relaxed atmosphere, in which each side has respect for the other, has streamlined contract talks.

“The board understands that in order for a contract to be ratified by the single local, we need a settlement close to the union goal,” Glynn said.

James Woodford believes the cooperation in Colfax is “significant.” “One has the feeling here that the staff, the administration, the board and the community as a whole are hand-in-hand, moving forward, not continually slipping backward.”

Andrist agrees. “The 2003-05 Colfax contract bargaining epitomizes the whole working atmosphere of Colfax, which has positive implications for all districts. This settlement will raise their ranking in the UniServ.” Andrist noted that since Colfax ranks high in the MA minimum lane and the MA 10th step lane, the district values experience and rewards its teachers for going back to school.

The Colfax negotiations team – Glynn, Mosey, Wes Grambo, Linda Christopherson, Connie Gibson, Carl Rudi, Deb Berndt, and President Woodford – hope that the Colfax story can prove inspirational to other teachers and school boards in the state. They prove that it is possible for fair, respectful and positive negotiations to become the norm, not the exception.

“We believe that we are appreciated,” Glynn said.

Posted February 3, 2004