TODAY AT SFT
Volume XLIII Issue 3 August 2011
Washington DC and Harrisburg Theatrics Come to Scranton as
Scranton School District Holds Teachers and Paras Hostage Claiming Financial Woes,
Unsupported by the Facts
Where are we?
The current Collective Bargaining Agreements between Scranton’s public school teachers and paraprofessionals are set to expire on August 31, 2011.
To date, after eleven formal negotiating sessions between the SFT and the School District, the parties are very far apart in efforts to produce successor contracts. The sticking points revolve around salaries and health care benefits.
Your Union negotiating team and Executive Committee have moved significantly on their proposals. The School Board and its chief negotiators have merely rearranged the District’s original yearly proposals to arrive at the same original offer which would ultimately result in a reduction in net pay to members because of negative pay scale movement and increased health care contributions, co-pays and deductibles.
What are the facts?
- Funding the union’s modest proposals, coupled with the District’s reduction in school positions, will result in millions of dollars in savings to the District’s payroll expense over the projected length of the agreements, even with Corbett and your Harrisburg representatives’ draconian cuts in public school funding.
- SFT proposals will require no increases in local taxes.
- The District has become the beneficiary of millions of dollars in transfer taxes and property taxes from the sale of Mercy Hospital and payment of taxes from the Chamber of Commerce, and discovery of additional money at the Single Tax Office to mention a few.
- Scranton teachers and paras currently pay more for their health care benefits than any other school district employees in Northeastern Pennsylvania and have been doing so for over ten years.
- School principals and assistant principals have experienced no reduction in numbers.
- Central administration has been increased.
So where are the Financial Woes?
Just as we are now learning on both the national and state levels, the financial woes have been created to obscure the American public from the real issues, chief of which is the lack of leadership by current elected officials at the national, state, and local levels. Local sentiment has historically held that Scranton lags behind the rest of the nation. On the current dearth of leadership, it would appear, we’ve caught up with our federal and state contemporaries.
Then why are we on the brink of a strike?
Your SFT leadership cannot find the “why” because the language of the collective bargaining agreements has worked with few changes for over twenty years, our modest economic proposals are fully fundable and new local revenue sources are increasing. So why is the District creating an atmosphere of doom where no demonstrable evidence supports such pessimism? The song lyric asks, “Why, oh why do I love you like I do?” The song replies, “I don’t know why; I just do.” The SFT asks, “Why, oh why do they treat us like they do?” The District’s reply is apparently, “We don’t know why; we just do.”
Is there a solution?
The answer is a resounding YES. We turned to Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th edition, 2005. The term “negotiate” means to confer, bargain, or discuss with a view to reaching agreement. The word “bargain” suggests, to discuss the details of a contract trying to get to best possible terms. The SFT’s team understands the terms and has repeatedly tried to put the meanings into practice. Further, the team understands the spirit of give-and-take involved in the process. So far, the District seems either to not understand the terms or is simply unwilling to practice the definitions to come to a mutual agreed to result.
It’s time for our elected school board members to get actively involved in settling these labor contracts. How can the Board claim, its chief negotiator, Lackawanna Democratic Party Chairman and School District Solicitor Harry McGrath doesn’t tell the members anything? How can Mr. McGrath claim that he has no authority to move at the negotiating table without Board approval? Catch-22?
The solution is at hand. The time is now. The parents, students, teachers, and paras need to be valued and treated with respect. Empty school buildings are not economically sound. Public education costs money now that pays off in untold ways in the future.
Let’s bargain in the true positive connotation of the word, to come to best possible terms
The Scranton School District interviewed over 1,000 prospective teachers this past summer, seeking the best and the brightest. The citizens of Scranton deserve no less, but let’s face it, common sense dictates that one doesn’t buy the top of the line goods at bargain basement prices.
What will it be?
Bargain to get to best possible terms
Or
Bargain Basement education for Scranton citizens!
