Saucon Teachers, School Board Will Return to Bargaining Table Nov. 7

Saucon Valley Education Association (SVEA) Chief Negotiator Rich Simononis announced in a press release Thursday evening that the union and the Saucon Valley School Board will return to the negotiating table on Friday, Nov. 7, in yet another attempt to bring nearly three years of often contentious teacher contract negotiations to a conclusion.

According to the news release, next Friday’s meeting will take place at 3:30 p.m.

Simononis said he expects the board to respond to his proposal–made publicly at Tuesday’s school board meeting–that both sides submit to binding arbitration.

“Binding arbitration ends it, as both sides must accept [the outcome],” he emphasized.

The following is an excerpt from the release:

“Given the long history of negotiations, various board member statements that they are tired of bargaining and the large legal fees they have already paid out, we are cautiously optimistic we can get this done through binding arbitration. However, if the school board refuses this reasonable offer, we expect the board to either accept our three-year offer, or propose something reasonable.

“Unfortunately, for more than a year, the school board has issued the same old proposal, which attempts to freeze salaries for three years! Three years! The membership will never accept such an unreasonable offer. Yet this group of school board members seems determined to remain unreasonable, to continue to play bargaining games, unreasonable, and waste a large pile of taxpayer money.

“In the meantime, we are asking the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board to subpoena the school board president, school board bargaining team members, their attorney, and the former superintendent for the unfair practice hearing scheduled for late November. As we have previously disclosed, we used the school board’s figures to establish that our current proposal costs millions of dollars less than our original proposal and is fair, appropriate and affordable (plus the school board has about a $15 million surplus).”

The school board has accused the SVEA of regressive bargaining, which involves making less favorable offers over time.

That accusation is supposed to be heard by the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board at a hearing scheduled for Nov. 24.

The SVEA, meanwhile, has said the school board may be “surface bargaining,” which is bargaining without the intention of reaching an agreement, and an unfair labor practice in Pennsylvania.

Tuesday’s school board meeting was characterized by impassioned statements from several Saucon Valley teachers, one of whom accused the school board of both “fear-mongering” and being “intellectually dishonest.”

The school board’s attorney, Jeff Sultanik, was also criticized, with Simononis accusing him of “bludgeoning” an earlier SVEA negotiation committee to the point where they “caved” and accepted a state-appointed neutral fact-finder’s recommendations; recommendations that were accepted by the board, but ultimately voted down by the union.

Saucon Valley School District has a recent history of labor strife, with teachers having gone on strike in 2005, 2008 and 2009.