West Hartford And Teachers Reach Contract Agreement

Published Dec. 10, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.

In order to avoid layoffs and forgo publicly attended binding arbitration meetings, the Teachers Union has accepted some contract concessions, however this contract will still cost more to West Hartford taxpayers at a time when the economy is suffering, everyone is seeing less money in their 401-K Plans, and the State of Connecticut has its own financial woes.

The Courant reported today that

Avoiding arbitration, the teachers' union and school board have agreed to a two-year contract that would raise wages by 1 percent and 1.25 percent in the first and second years of the agreement. Teachers also would pay slightly more for their health care premiums and would work one less day each year over the next two school years.

Union members voted on Tuesday to ratify the contract, which would take effect July 2009.

The school board and town council still need to formally approve the agreement, and both are expected to do so. The pay raises are the lowest for the teachers' union in recent memory, and school board Chairman Terry Schmitt called it "a harbinger of the things to come, of what's going to be happening in town after town."

The deal caps weeks of difficult negotiations between the school board and the West Hartford Education Association. The contract comes as town officials are projecting a drop in state aid next year.

It sounds like the Teachers Union saw the handwriting on the chalk board, and that they weren't going to do much better in the arbitration process. Anyone asking for more money and benefits, while also asking for less hours would probably get little sympathy from anyone these days. The fact remains that this will cost the town more at a time when we can least afford any new expense.

Teacher salaries account for $54.1 million of the school district's $123.4 million budget and, at a minimum, the 1 percent and 1.25 percent wage increases would cost taxpayers an extra $1 million over the life of the contract at current staffing levels.

However, the pay raise does not factor in an additional "step" increase that about two-thirds of the union's 867 members will also receive as they rise in seniority. Under the existing three-year pact, teachers' salaries increased 3 percent this year, and those who qualified for step pay received an overall boost of about 5 percent.

The deal includes an agreement from the board to increase the number of graduate courses eligible for tuition reimbursement. In addition, the 2009-10 school year would be reduced to 183 days, followed by 182 days in the 2010-11 year. There are currently 184 instructional days in the district — state law requires at least 180 days for students in grades K-12.

Union President David Dippolino said that he believed the settlement "balances the need to contain escalating costs while maintaining the school system's ability to attract and retain a high quality teaching staff." As if West Hartford isn't already attractive to those in the education business. We ought to have a hiring freeze just the same, and even cut a few on staff. Let's start with some of those teachers who really don't teach. As far as escalating costs go, we shouldn't just be trying to pay for what we already do, but we ought to be examining if everything we currently do is necessary. A household doesn't just try to "balance escalating costs"; sometimes you have to cancel the newspaper and magazine subscriptions, or cancel cable service, or even buy hamburger instead of steak. And what about State mandates? What do those cost us? Can we get our State delegation to the Capitol to get some of those suspended or repealed altogether?

There are those who will want to cling tenaciously to every program that West Hartford Public School currently has in place. That in fact, may not be the wisest choice. Program evaluation is essential and now could be an opportunity to weed the garden.

Mayor Scott Slifka said that the unions made "an enormous gesture in recognition of the gravity of the times," and that "This is an example of the union working with us as a partner to produce a budget that holds down costs while maintaining services and programs." Actually, it is a response to reality. The Mayor was being too generous in his comments, for in actuality if the Teachers Union (i.e. David Dippolino) really wanted to be a "partner" and fully understand the pain that our town is facing, they would not have asked for any raise in pay for next year, especially as they must see that our funding from the State stands to be substantially less next year. They would have also given up the very costly step increases.

Quite frankly, it would be helpful for the public to know exactly how much this new contract is going to cost the town in total including those step increases. Moreover, where does the Town Negotiation Representatives and the Mayor think that money is going to come from? Let's hope we don't have to close a pool or a library branch to fund this contract, and let's hope that we don't go raising taxes either as we step into the third year of revaluation phase in on properties that are already over assessed based on current market conditions.

This contract wasn't an "enormous gesture" on behalf of the Teacher's Union, it really was a gift to the Teacher's Union by the Town of West Hartford - let's hope they appreciate it as such.


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