Teachers Union Rejects School Committee’s latest proposal
Canton Citizen, August 2, 2007
Despite hopes that the Canton Teachers Association would follow the example set by the town’s municipal unions, the School Committee once again failed to satisfy the CTA’s demand for a raise in the most recent round of collective bargaining and reported it has no plans to put a new offer on the table.
School Committee Chairman John Bonnanzio said the CTA” summarily rejected” an offer at the July 23 meeting that included a “way to get longer tenured teachers some money” without increasing the school department’s existing payroll.
“Between that meeting and last we had several municipal contracts ratified with the various collective bargaining units agreeing to a zero percent (cost of living adjustment),” said Bonnanzio “That, to me, reaffirmed the fact that the School Committee is on the right track in terms of what it is asking for from the teachers.
“Moreover, I have repeatedly reminded CTA leadership that it’s disingenuous to represent to the community the fact that there is no pay raise on the table for coming academic year. In fact, step and lane increases amount to an additional cost of $600,000 to the payroll budget which is more than a 3 percent increase.”
The CTA made headlines in June when a significant portion of its membership attended a School Committee meeting to present a petition that stated its refusal to accept a zero percent raise. Since then, CTA president Katey Swanson has repeatedly made it clear that the teachers have no plans to budge on the issue of a raise
The Citizen contacted Swanson after the July 23 meeting, but she said the union has “no public comment at this time”.
Bonnanzio expressed frustration with the CTA, whose actions, he said, suggest a membership that considers itself “better or more special” than other town workers who agreed not to take a cost of living increase this year.
“I don’t know why teachers seem to think that they are immune from the economic conditions of the world,” he said, noting that he has not seen a raise at his job in three years. “We don’t have any more money,” he added. “The only way to give teachers raises is to fire more teachers, and we have already fired enough.”
Bonnanzio also pointed to a protection in the municipal contracts, known as a “me too” provision, which would allow those unions to reopen and renegotiate their contracts if the teachers were given a raise.
When asked if he feared a teachers’ strike in the near future, Bonnanzio said he “would be shocked if teachers made the decision to break the law:’ but said he would not be surprised if the teachers agreed to “work to rule,” in which members follow their contracts to the letter and refuse to provide any unpaid services.
Despite the current impasse, Bonnanzio said the School Committee “consists of the five best friends in town the teachers will ever have:’ whose decision to not offer a raise was actually made by voters who rejected the proposition 21/2 override.
“People need to remember: this school system doesn’t belong to the CTA’ he said. “It happens to belong to the taxpayers of Canton .”