Collective bargaining
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Teachers and their families gathered November 1 at the Village Green – the second in a series of rallies to protest the Oconomowoc Area School Board’s unwillingness to negotiate a cost-of-living wage increase. (Holding the signs in the top photo are, left to right, Oconomowoc Education Association Bargaining Committee representative Dan Raasch, OEA Vice President Sam Barrette, and OEA President Tom Beirl.)
"School Board President Weimer has been quoted in the paper in early October as saying he was willing to resume negotiations," said Brad Ducklow, chief negotiator for the Oconomowoc Education Association. "We made clear to him at our last school board meeting October 17th that we were ready to bargain and requested dates. We have not heard from the board since that meeting.
"We continue to seek a fair contract that provides teachers increases of less than 2% per year, which is below the inflation rate,"Ducklow said. "We know Oconomowoc city employees received increases exceeding 3% per year; while the district school board president, who is Oconomowoc Lake’s chief of police, gave his area police officers increases of 3% per year."
"We are dedicated and hard-working professionals who are being offered pay increases that would result in a loss of 6% in real income at current rates of inflation,” Ducklow said “This comes after the majority of members suffered two years of pay freezes and doubled their share of health insurance premiums to help the district address its financial woes.
“We are asking the community to join us and our families in our effort by letting school board members know that what makes a school system great is not just its buildings, but attracting and retaining excellent staff,” he said.
To protest the lack of progress in negotiations, OEA members are refusing to perform voluntary work outside the work day or to participate in voluntary committee work.
Update: On November 7, 2006, the Oconomowoc School Board agreed to return to the negotiations table.
– Submitted by Steve Cupery
Posted November 9, 2006