Bethel Park school board, teachers reject pact [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

May 17--The Bethel Park school board is expected to formally vote at a special meeting tonight to reject a fact-finder's recommendations in the nearly 2-year-old contract dispute between the union and the district.

That vote follows an earlier private vote on the matter by the board and a rejection vote by the Bethel Park Federation of Teachers. The teachers union must also take a second vote.

The union rejected the report because it included a one-year wage freeze, which union President Diann Smith contends essentially eliminates a step in the contract.

The board rejected the report "because we can't afford it," said board President Donna Cook.

The teachers' contract with the district expired in June 2010 and teachers staged a six-week strike in November 2010. Following the strike the two sides participated in mandatory nonbinding arbitration, but the arbitrator's report was rejected by both sides. Since the strike, teachers have returned to the classroom and continue to work under the terms of the previous contract.

During the fact-finding process both sides were able to make proposals to the fact-finder who then came up with report, which was made public on May 11 after both sides reported that they rejected it.

The district, in its proposal to the fact-finder, asked for a pay freeze and no step movement in the contract for 2010-11 to be followed by salary increases of $1,000 in each of the next four years in a contract that would run through 2014-15.

The union, however, requested an $800 increase for 2010-11, with $1,800 raises in the following two years and $2,000 increases in 2013-14 and 2014-15.

Fact-finder Michelle Miller-Kotula proposed no step movement in 2010-11, but a $1,100 "one-time additional salary increase."

The fact-finder suggested step movements in each of the next four years along with raises of $500, $1,100, $1,200 and $1.350 over the next four years.

Ms. Smith said the district teachers contract has 17 steps, with a large salary jump between steps 16 and 17. According to the contract, teachers with a bachelor's degree receive a $35,116 salary hike between steps 16 and 17, with the salary this year increasing from $56,239 to $91,356.

Ms. Smith said adding a step to the contract would mean that every teacher below the jump step would have to wait another year to get the $35,117 raise. "That means they have lost $35,000," Ms. Smith said.

Ms. Smith said the union believes that a wage freeze with no step movement would violate the state School Code because "the Pennsylvania school code says you must be given credit for your years of service."

She said of the 386 teachers in the district, about 280 are below the jump step and would have their large raises delayed a year.

Another big-ticket item in the fact-finder's report was health coverage. The district asked for an HMO plan to replace the Highmark PPO plan for a savings of $250,000 a year and asked that teachers contribute a premium contribution of 13 percent.

The union opposed the move to an HMO. It agreed to raise the amount paid by employees but wanted it based on a scale that considered the employee's level of coverage and rate of pay.

The fact-finder recommended keeping the Highmark PPO plan and called for no increase in premium contributions in 2010-11 and 2011-12 and then increases of 6 percent, 7 percent and 8 percent for those below the jump step of the contract for the next three years and increases of 9 percent, 10.5 percent and 12 percent for those at or above the jump step.

The report also looked at a number of other issues including bereavement leave, length of teacher day, class size, early retirement, the addition of domestic partners to benefits packages and other issues. Ms. Smith said none of the other issues were major stumbling blocks for the union.

Mary Niederberger: [email protected]; 412-263-1590.

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