Impasse: What's It all About?
As you know, the negotiations for bargaining units 1, 4, 8 and 10 have all gone to impasse. Building reps, STA officers and staff have been inundated with questions and rumors about just what this means. The following represent the most frequently asked questions.

What exactly is impasse? This term is used to define the point at which the parties in contract negotiations are unable to advance their proposals any further. It usually comes after many meetings. Our teams met with district teams for over a year before reaching this point. We just couldn't make any more progress.

Does this mean that no progress was made? No, progress has been made and that will not be lost. Many significant proposals (issues taken from member surveys) have been agreed to in all of the unit negotiations. These become part of the final proposals brought to members of each bargaining unit for ratification.

What’s next? The STA and the district filed a petition with the Public Employees Relations Board (PERB) for assistance. We documented the history of each negotiation and requested jointly that the same mediator be assigned to all of our cases. Last week we were informed that Kevin Flanigan who worked with us in 2000 was assigned. Now we have to schedule meetings with him.

How long will this take and isn't this expensive? Mediation took 4 months for Unit 1 and about 6 months for units 8 and 10 in 2000. We are hoping that our earlier progress will help us get to an agreement sooner than that this time, but there are no guarantees. The dollar cost is covered by the state but it takes lots of people time and energy.

What happens to our salaries in the meantime? The Taylor Law requires the district to continue to pay us the salaries negotiated in the last round. This protects us but also causes our salaries to stand still. That’s why your teams are insisting on full retroactive pay for work already completed and fair raises going forward. We stood together until we accomplished this in 2000 by remembering that moving towards settlement is better than settling for less than we should.

Rumors about increased health care costs and decreased benefits are flying around. What’s true? Members stated in the surveys that they wanted to preserve their health care benefits. The district stated from the beginning that keeping our level of benefits would cost the members more money. Our negotiating teams got the message and fashioned a multi-faceted proposal that can accomplish both. What’s holding us up now is the amount that the district wants members to contribute. The data from other districts shows us that we would be paying more than surrounding districts even though our salaries are lower!

What can I do as a member? Each member can support her/his union by insisting that the unit contracts are followed- all of them. If you are asked to violate your contract by, say, meeting through your lunch or planning period or working outside of the workday without compensation or being paid the hourly rate for an inservice class instead of salary credit, think twice. If you don’t support your contracts, who will?

• Wear black each and every Wednesday until all of the contracts are settled.
• Come to monthly board of education meetings.
• Write to board of education members and other elected officials at the federal, state, county and city level.
• VOTE for people who will vote for more support for education.
• Send the rest home!