A Caveat
“But I said I was unhappy they are not officially re-opening (contract) negotiations.
“If we can reach an agreement informally, fine.
“But it does not seem as if we are going to. It seems they want to meet to talk about the budget, but not really have negotiations.
Causes and Effects
“That is a problem. I think the reason they aren’t is that if negotiations officially are re-opened, we have the right, if we don’t reach agreement, to declare an impasse.
“Then,” Mr. Mielke said, “we can bring in a mediator, go to fact-finding — all those steps that make them vulnerable to having to give to us money.”
Attired in workout clothes, Mr. Mielke, standing on a side street at an immediate post-dawn hour, interrupted his morning constitutional to discuss the state of re-flared relations.
Background
The latest one-year contract of the Teachers Union was ratified early in March. Four days later, the School District announced the arrival of a previously unknown sum of money in its treasury. First identified as $500,000, both sides now are calling it $757,000.
Mr. Mielke said teachers deserve a slice of that financial pie in addition to the agreement reached almost 90 days ago.
“It seems to me the School District is nervous about re-opening negotiations,” Mr. Mielke said. “The law allows employee unions to get their fair share of whatever money is available.”
Filing an Accusation
Earlier, the Teachers Union filed a charge of “bad faith bargaining” with PERB, the Public Relations Employment Board.
“I told the School Board last week that if we cannot come to an informal agreement, we will let the PERB process move forward,” the Union president said. “We feel PERB will then order the School District back to the bargaining table.
One Side of Argument
“We will contend the District made a budget adjustment, moving back into the General Fund, $757,000 one day before a bargaining session and didn’t tell us about it.
“To put that number into context, our whole settlement this year might have been $800,000, the cost to the District.
“Essentially,” Mr. Mielke said, “the amount of money that they did not share with us could, conceivably, have doubled our settlement.
“That is real money.
“And PERB is going to say, ‘You’ve got to share that with the Union.’”
Autumn Leaves
The downside of this dispute, Mr. Mielke said, is that the wheels of educational justice churn slowly.
“None of this,” he said, “might happen until fall. That just serves to put off next year’s talks. With that, the whole thing would keep going down the wrong road.”
