Dallas district, teachers make no progress

Citizens' Voice, The (Wilkes-Barre, PA)

Jan. 31--Dallas School District negotiators did not budge at Tuesday's bargaining session with the teachers union, and the union once again rejected the district's last offer.

District Solicitor Vito DeLuca said the district will pull its current offer off the table and re-evaluate what it can afford if the union doesn't accept the offer today.

"We can't give them what we don't have," DeLuca said.

Negotiators have scheduled another bargaining session for Feb. 13, and the union is planning to go back on strike March 5.

"They owed us a response, and he said, 'we have nothing for you,'" union President Michael Cherinka Jr. said, recalling an exchange with DeLuca at Tuesday's meeting.

The union has agreed to the district's proposal on salaries, but the district and the union are not close to an agreement on health benefits. The district wants to reduce the cost of health benefits and use those savings to fund the pay increases offered.

Since the last labor deal expired in 2015, teachers have not been able to advance pay steps but have continued to receive health benefits from the expired deal without paying a portion of their insurance premiums.

The district is offering two health-benefit plans -- a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) plan with no premium contribution and a Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plan with better coverage and a premium share. The premium contribution for the PPO plan would cost $832.85 year for family coverage, $300.23 for single coverage, $596.87 for employee/spouse coverage and $458.06 for employee/child coverage.

The district has proposed a five-year deal, which would cover 2015-16 and 2016-17 but not include retroactive pay increases for those years. The average salary for union members would increase from $62,392 last year to $73,840 this year, $76,207 in 2018-19 and $78,567 in 2019-20, according to the district offer.

Teachers went on strike in 2016 from Nov. 14 to Dec. 19 and also this year from Sept. 22 to Oct. 3. The union, the Dallas Education Association, represents more than 170 teachers and other professionals, including guidance counselors.

The district has a $38.3 million budget this year. The salaries for members of the teachers union cost $13 million, and their benefits cost $7.8 million, district Business Manager Grant Palfey said.

Contact the writer:

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570-821-2073, @cvmikebuffer

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