School Daze in Souderton September 18
Striking Souderton teachers vote to go back school a couple of days before the state would have forced them:
…[W]ith negotiations between the teachers and the board in the 6,900-student district at a virtual standstill on wages and healthcare, the main issues, the two sides reached an agreement last night for the teachers to return to work a few days early. The union membership voted this afternoon to end the strike while the arbitration process plays out.
Negotiations are at a “standstill”…so how far apart are they?
The school board estimates that the two sides are about $1.5 million apart on the cost of their health care proposals and about $10 million apart on the combined costs of health care and salaries. The union leadership says it is willing to reduce its salary demands, but only if the school board improves its healthcare offer.
Ten million dollars??? For real????
The teachers’ last wage proposal was for a four-year contract with average payroll increases of 5.98 percent in the first year, 9.4 percent in the second year, 7.14 percent in the third, and 6.9 percent in the fourth. The school board is proposing a three-year contract with increases of 2.5 percent each year.
On health care, the district now offers three insurance plans, with teachers contributing 10 percent of the premium for the most comprehensive one, 5 percent for one that has fewer benefits and more co-payments, and no premium contribution for a bare-bones plan. The board wants to eliminate the most comprehensive plan, to charge teachers a 4 percent premium contribution for the plan that used to have no contribution, and to charge a 12 percent premium contribution for the other plan.
The school district is now self-insured; the union wants to switch to a Blue Cross / Blue Shield plan, leave the percentages of premium contributions the same and add some improvements.
From this brief article, I can only guess about the quality of the health care package, but the co-pay and employee contributions sound similar to those at my work. It’s the salaries that get me: 5.98%, 9.4% and 7.14% increases in subsequent years. This just sounds completely unrealistic to me. The school board’s proposal of 2.5% sounds a little light, but really, in the last five years on my job, my COLA increases have averaged between 2.5% and 3.5%.
Let’s put it in real terms: A teacher making $50,000 a year in Souderton would get a 5.98% increase the first year, amounting to $2,990 extra dollars per year. The next year, that same teacher would be making $52,990 and is eligible for a 9.4% or $4,981 per year increase, bringing his new annual salary to $57,971. The next year, he is due for his 7.14% increase, which raises his salary another $4,139 and resulting in an annual salary of $62,110: An additional gross pay of $12,110 over a mere three years. There are 512 teachers in Souderton and they work 9 months out of the year. Do the math.
I am not saying that teachers’ work is unimportant and not worthy of being properly compensated, but even if you take negotiations into account, the district started at a reasonable position of 2.5% per year. The teachers’ union is at a ridiculously high number NOW, when negotiations have broken down—just imagine where THEY started out. This displays a complete unawareness of how salaries and wages work out here in the real world where our jobs are not guaranteed by a union regardless of performance.
I can’t believe the good people of Souderton were not marching with pitchforks and torches on the picket lines before this.
Comments, compliments or complaints?
