[Editor’s Note: Mr. Mielke is President of the Teachers Union.]
Friends —
Your Culver City Federation of Teachers bargaining team (Casey Chabola, Amy Maldonado, Natalie Gualtieri, Claudette DuBois, David Mielke and Kevin Cronin) met again with the CCUSD Management team on Thursday.
CCUSD presented us with a proposal that calls for 7 unpaid furlough days for next year. This proposal is more costly to our bargaining unit than their first “pay cuts” proposal and thus is a “regressive” proposal. This is the fourth regressive proposal that we have received from CCUSD this year.
As you know, CCUSD's original proposal to us would have cost our unit, collectively, about $800,000. Each of their successive proposals has been more costly to us and thus are regressive proposals that are prohibited by state law.
In bargaining, proposals can only move in one direction. We couldn't, for example, come back to the table next week and reduce our furlough day proposal from 6 days to 3 days. That would be regressive bargaining on our part.
Our primary goal right now is to get a settlement, but once the dust clears, we may file another “unfair labor practice” charge with PERB, the Public Employment Relations Board.
CCUSD is in financial trouble, but we're doing our part. This year we're taking 5 unpaid furlough days and we've offered to take 6 unpaid days next year. On Thursday, we proposed “snap back” language that would require CCUSD to rescind some of these days if state revenues improve.
(The “good news” this week about state revenues isn't as good as it seems. Apparently, all this means for CCUSD is that we'll be getting state funds more quickly, but that the overall picture remains grim.)
CCUSD also said “NO” to the other parts of our proposal:
• Exempt Office of Child Development teachers from the furlough days — NO.
• Complete a retirement incentive analysis for next year —NO.
• Add state maximums for special ed classrooms and specialists' caseloads to our contract —NO.
• Make whole those teachers who were harmed in the “rounding” process for furlough day deductions —NO.
• Add increased elementary conference days and “meeting-free” Wednesdays to our contract- —NO.
If you thought that our offer of a second year of furlough days might lead CCUSD to agree to some of our other issues, you would have been wrong. Also, we're still waiting for a single significant cut to our administrative staff. Apparently, our suggestion that expensive administrators work just 11 months instead of 12 months has fallen on deaf ears.
On a more positive note, CCUSD has agreed to provide us with an annual update of our unused sick leave, and they are working with us on the elementary conference days and the “meeting-free” Wednesdays. The primary hold-up on here is that we want these days added to our contract; CCUSD wants us to have to bargain them each year. We're also making progress on revising our stipend schedule.
The teams meet again on Monday, June 6.
P.S. As you know, when CCUSD calculated the furlough day pay deductions this year, they rounded up or down to the nearest dollar amount. Some of us “gained” about 5 bucks per month while others were shorted that amount. We've tried to resolve this in the bargaining arena, asking that CCUSD simply make whole those teachers who were harmed by the rounding process. CCUSD's response is that they'll do this but they will then deduct the 50 bucks or so from those who “gained” from the rounding process!
All of this has to do with money that we are giving them, of course, but those arguments haven't prevailed. As a result, our only recourse is to file a grievance on behalf of those teachers who were “shorted” in the rounding process. We've requested that list from CCUSD.
Mr. Mielke may be contacted at davidmielke@ccusd.org
