GAPS strike tensions rise over threat to withhold teacher health insurance

Tensions rose this week as Albany teachers decried their district's move to stop paying for striking employees' health insurance. That comes as the teachers' strike enters its third week.

The teachers went on strike on Nov. 12, and the Greater Albany Public Schools district has yet to seal a deal with teachers. The next mediation was scheduled for Friday, Nov. 29. No announcements were made by deadline.

Administrators announced last week they would only be able to pay insurance for active employees, and that starting Tuesday, Nov. 26 — the final contractual workday of the month — striking members wouldn't be considered active and therefore wouldn't qualify for district-paid health coverage.

Those benefits are set to end for Greater Albany Education Association employees who continue to be off the job by Nov. 30.

Striking teachers have called the move a pressure tactic designed to get workers to cross picket lines. District officials, however, say they're following state rules.

In a statement attributed to the GAPS bargaining team on Monday, Nov. 25, to "clarify inaccurate claims," the team said the decision follows procedures set by the Oregon Educators Benefit Board, or OEBB, which offers health plans for most of the state's school districts.

"This is not a decision unique to GAPS; it is a standard requirement applicable to all public school districts in Oregon," the statement read.

Union officials, however, say the district chose to stop paying for coverage and during the latest round of mediation on Tuesday when the union presented a memorandum of understanding — a kind of agreement exchanged during negotiations — requesting the district continue its coverage for striking teachers.

Under Oregon administrative rules, employees are eligible for OEBB coverage if they are "actively working or on paid or unpaid leave" or meet eligibility through a collective bargaining agreement or district policy already in effect.

In an email addressed to Superintendent Andy Gardner on Monday, Nov. 25, Amber Cooper, an official with the Oregon Education Association — the parent union of GAEA, said the Oregon Educators Benefit Board had confirmed with the union that it would continue health overage for employees should a memorandum of understanding be signed.

However, according to Amy Bacher, a spokesperson with Oregon Health Authority — which oversees OEBB, OEBB made no such confirmation with the statewide union.

By email, Bacher said employees need to be active to be eligible for benefits.

The district's bargaining team rejected the union's memorandum Tuesday that teachers believed would extend their benefits.

When asked why the memorandum wasn't agreed to, Gardner said by phone that the district wanted to end the strike, and that the proposed measure would make continuation of strike more tenable.

Gardner added the district was informed that statewide union would be footing the bill for December's COBRA coverage premiums for striking Albany employees.

As they have many times in the last couple of weeks at different locations across the city, teachers gathered at the district office Tuesday to protest the pending coverage loss, with speakers sharing details about how it would impact them.

One of the speakers, Jadie Wright, a teacher at South Shore Elementary School, has been with the district since 2018. She started out as a special education assistant before becoming a second-grade teacher.

Her family is covered by the district and she said the move by GAPS to interrupt benefits would mean she'd have to push back any surgery she schedules for her 5-year-old to remove his tonsils and adenoids. She had been eying a date this winter.

Wright said teachers typically schedule medical appointments over school breaks, so as not to disrupt classes.

"It just seems so wrong that they would dangle health care and our health as a bargaining chip," she said later by phone.

"They claim to care about our kids, but they're affecting our community," she added.

Greater Albany Education Association President Dana Lovejoy echoed that sentiment, saying the district's move affects children at GAPS, where many employees own students attend Albany schools and whose health care is also covered by the district.

"They're not putting students first when they make moves like this," Lovejoy said in a phone interview.

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