School district officials declared an impasse in contract negotiations with the teachers union Nov. 10. Representatives for both sides will now sit down with a mediator in the coming weeks in hopes of reaching a new agreement on salaries, leaves and other negotiable articles.
It’s been a long, arduous negotiation period between Morgan Hill Unified School District leaders and Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers representatives that started back in March.
The union is firm on wanting a 10 percent raise over the next two years for its members, with the option to revisit the article next negotiating period, according to MHFT President Gemma Abels. They also presented “several options” that equal 10 percent over those two years, Abels said.
The district’s offer is a 9 percent raise over two years (6 percent for 2016-17 retroactive to July 1; and 3 percent for 2017-18). But that comes with the contingency that the teachers cannot come back after one year and renegotiate for more money. They would have to wait until after the 2017-18 school year.
“At our Nov. 10 negotiations meeting, the district presented us with an offer that would close negotiations for two years,” Abels said. “In accepting a two-year settlement, we would be giving up our members’ right to collectively bargain changes to our contract each year.”
In a survey conducted by MHFT, 65 percent of its members rejected the district’s offer of a 9 percent raise over two years; 58 percent rejected the “contingency language” tied to budget revenue increases; and 75 percent rejected the $2,500 bonus for teachers at schools where more than 40 percent of students qualify for free and reduced lunch.
More than half of its 422 members responded to MHFT’s survey, which was issued between Nov. 14-16, according to Abels.
“We feel we have strong backing from our members to go forward with mediation,” Abels added.
MHFT members are currently in the second year of a three-year contract that came with a 5 percent raise. But in the spring, they started new negotiations on designated articles of that agreement, which runs through 2018, including compensation.
District leaders called for a Nov. 7 special closed session meeting to receive further guidance from its seven-member governing body on contract negotiations. The district’s classified employees, Service Employees International Union, is also pressing leaders for a salary increase.
However, the school district filed a “Request for Impasse Determination/Appointment of Mediator” form with the state three days later since an agreement could not be reached. State mediator Yu-Yee Wu was assigned and the first meeting is scheduled for Jan. 12.
According to that document, approximately 72 hours over 14 sessions has been spent in negotiations since March 31. It also shows there are three unresolved issues—compensation, leaves and class size—as well as three tentative agreements on matters of teacher support, transitional kindergarten and middle school configuration.
Teachers have spoken out at many MHUSD school board meetings about their plights and why a pay hike is necessary. Abels then went after district leadership for hoarding its reserves rather than better compensating its employees to more competitive levels with the rest of the county’s school districts.
A first-year MHUSD teacher salary starts at $50,365.35, which is more than neighboring Gilroy Unified School District ($49,748 first year) but lower than other local school districts in Santa Clara County such as San Jose Unified ($54,958), Eastside Union ($55,349), Los Gatos Union ($55,053) and Fremont Union ($60,125). Other districts offer no cost health benefits (MHUSD does not) and signing bonuses for new teachers.
“The district has determined that its continued fiscal solvency will be negatively impacted if the compensation increase is more than 9 percent over two years,” according to the district’s filing. “This cuts the district’s reserves by two-thirds, and results in only 10 percent reserve, while board policy requires a 17 percent reserve.”
The district concluded that there is “no room for movement between the parties” and claimed that “MHFT has refused to bargain until the district will increase its compensation offer, which the district is unable to do.”
Meanwhile, the school board voted 5-1 at its Nov. 15 meeting to further explore the possibility of providing employee housing by the year 2019. The board’s approval dedicated $12,350 toward that goal.
