Saucon teachers will meet Monday to discuss their options following a fruitless three-hour negotiation session between members of the Saucon Valley Education Association–the union that represents teachers in the current contract talks–and school board members Friday, according to an article published by the Express-Times.
The two sides have been negotiating a new contract for teachers for nearly three years, and teachers have been working without a contract since June 30, 2012.
The school board’s attorney, Jeff Sultanik, speculated in the Express-Times article that the SVEA’s negotiating committee will ask the union’s members to authorize a strike, and said the union is also seeking a continuance (that the school district will oppose) of an unfair labor practices hearing scheduled for Nov. 24.
The hearing before the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board was scheduled months ago after the school board accused the SVEA of regressive bargaining, which involves making less favorable offers over time.
That accusation was leveled after the union replaced its original negotiating team earlier this year; hired a more aggressive attorney as a spokesman; and submitted a new contract offer that–according to the board–was substantially more expensive than the one that had been on the table.
The earlier contract proposal was based on recommendations from a state-appointed fact-finder, whose intervention in the contract dispute in 2013 was at the SVEA’s request.
In response to the regressive bargaining allegation, the SVEA has said the board may be engaging in “surface bargaining,” which is negotiating with no intention of reaching a settlement and also an unfair labor practice in Pennsylvania.
According to an article about Friday’s unproductive meeting published by the Morning Call, the SVEA again requested that the school board agree to enter binding arbitration in order to end the contract dispute, but the board refused.
In its story, the Allentown newspaper quoted SVEA Chief Negotiator Rich Simononis, who accused the board of wasting taxpayer money while playing games at the bargaining table.
Simononis first broached the offer of binding arbitration at a well-attended Oct. 28 school board meeting at which numerous teachers railed against the board in public for what one educator called “intellectually dishonest” negotiations and information it has posted online.
An email request for additional comment from Simononis about Friday’s meeting went unanswered, but in a press release announcing the Nov. 7 bargaining session he said that “if the school board refuses this reasonable offer [of binding arbitration], we expect the board to either accept our three-year offer, or propose something reasonable.”
The next Saucon Valley School Board meeting will be held Tuesday, Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. in the high school Audion room. Board meetings are also live-streamed on YouTube and can be accessed online via a link on the school board agenda page on the Saucon Valley School District website.
If teachers do vote to authorize a strike, they are required by state law to provide 48 hours notice of their intention to walk off the job.
A strike now would be the fourth Saucon Valley strike in less than a decade. Saucon teachers previously went on strike in 2005, 2008 and 2009–a record that ranks the district as one of the most strike-ridden in the commonwealth.
The issues that are at the core of the current contract impasse include teacher raises, health care costs and graduate study credits.