Schools Delay Contract Hearing
By Sylvia Lim, The Bradenton Herald, Fla.
Jan. 11–MANATEE — To the surprise of the Manatee County teachers union, the school board Wednesday unanimously decided to put off a hearing that could have resulted in a labor contract teachers remain strongly opposed to.
Before the decision, school district attorney John Bowen said the move would strengthen the district’s position with the Manatee Education Association — which refused to participate in Wednesday’s hearing.
“By doing that, we take away any possible reasons of delay the union has,” Bowen told board members.
Pat Barber, president of the Manatee Education Association, agreed to delay the hearing until Jan. 19. The union has sought to put off the hearing since it was scheduled last week.
But the conversation turned prickly when board member Jane Pfeilsticker asked Bowen if teachers can get their raises before a contract is finalized.
Her line of questioning drew a quick retort from Barber, who said such discussions were inappropriate because the hearing was postponed.
“I am disturbed,” Barber told the board. “You’ve only heard one side of the argument. . . . It does not show me that you can be impartial.”
Later, Pfeilsticker again attempted to smooth things over.
“This has become quite adversarial. I want to ask you all to push the refresh button,” she said. “We have a bit of a dysfunctional relationship here and we have a dysfunctional family and I would like us to get back to being a functional family.”
Core of the dispute
Issues in dispute are teacher raises and middle school schedules. However, the core of the stalemate is a district proposal to cut a 45-minute, after-school planning time for all teachers. District officials later offered a compromise: 225 minutes of planning time a week, but administrators would get to say how 90 minutes of that time would be used.
A special magistrate appointed to referee the dispute heard arguments from both sides in mid-December. He declined to recommend a solution to the planning-time issue because, he wrote, neither side presented him with enough information on the matter.
The union asked the state Public Employees Relations Commission to halt Wednesday’s hearing, on grounds that the magistrate did not suggest a solution to the planning-time dilemma.
Union officials also argued that they have 20 days to decide whether to accept the magistrate’s recommendations, issued Dec. 29.
Two hours before Wednesday’s hearing, the commission declined to get involved until the two sides have settled on a contract.
Before the meeting, several hundred picketers gathered outside the school district administration building for their third protest in seven weeks.
This time, members of other unions showed up in support.
“I live in Manatee County, and I have kids who go to school here,” said Patti Wilkins, assistant business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 824, which represents 4,800 Verizon phone workers in the Tampa Bay area.
Several teachers on the picket line Wednesday said the contract dispute is not about money, but time.
The district’s latest proposal works well in theory, said Nadya Golubov, a Lakewood Ranch High art teacher.
Like many teachers, Golubov felt the district had taken more time from her over the years, even while adding to her workload.
“They don’t know the effect this has on me,” she said. “Do I not go to church on the weekends? Do I not have another life?”
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Bradenton Herald, Fla.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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