No Relief in View
The war is back on between the two harshly feuding factions with speculation about the next settlement placed on a far horizon. With the change of heart by the Teachers Union, a retooled two-year contract, which may have felt like a luxury after spending the last two years without a deal, gurgled down the drain. All of those nice words that spilled into the community after the mediator-assisted settlement now have been taken back.
Both sides made what they considered generous concessions in last Friday’s supposedly landmark bargaining session. In the presence of a mediator, each party not only signaled but signed its acceptance, pending formal approval by a vote of union members that was scheduled for this afternoon. As a tuneup for the vote, the two sides — relating more poorly these days than Paul McCartney and Heather Mills — were to meet in the serenity of the Culver City High School library after classes on Wednesday. With no prizefighting gloves allowed on the premises, the warriors were supposed to celebrate and explain their versions of the settlement.
But before any of that could come to fruition, the deal blew apart over an issue the two sides have been heatedly arguing about, privately, publicly and shamelessly, for weeks.
The union’s balking point apparently centers on whether or when the spouses of teachers hired after July 1 will receive healthcare benefits at any stage. Until last Friday, there was to be no spousal coverage for post-July 1 hires.
The District’s Strategy
Thefrontpagenline.com learned that the mediator convinced the District negotiating team, headed by Asst. Supt. Patty Jaffe, to put a version of future spousal benefits into play. The District made a proposal calling for the teachers to gain retiree healthcare benefits after fifteen consecutive years of service. The spouses of teachers would be eligible for the same benefits only after twenty consecutive years of service.
“That is what I thought we had agreed to, and that is what I thought I had signed off on,” David Mielke, president of the Teachers Union told thefrontpageonline.com last night. “But the District is now is under the impression it is only obligated to pay benefits for the teachers, not their spouses. The email that Patty Jaffe sent to me last Saturday, outlining terms, was different from the one I got from her on Monday. Something had changed over the weekend. I signed the document without looking at it realy closely. Later, when I was sitting at a red light, I realized what had happened. And so I told her it was off.”
Mr. Mielke said he would contact Ms. Jaffe today, inviting the District to return to the negotiating table to uncurl the final wrinkle. He did not seem particularly concerned about the delay. “We have waited for two years,” he said. “We certainly can wait for another week. What they are doing is trying to force something down our throat.”
A supporter of the School District’s offer told thefrontpageonline.com that it “seems like the union is making a pretty arcane complaint to me. This is frustrating. Why are they worrying about something so far into the future? If this were about wages, God bless them, they should argue. But the healthcare benefits they are talking about can’t possibly kick in for years and years. I mean, they could implement the rest of the contract and re-open negotiations over the benefits later.”
One day last winter, the School District and the leadership of the Teachers Union expressed confidence they had to come terms over a new agreement. But it did not survive any longer than last week’s quivering settlement. Complaining for years they have not received any authentic raises, union leaders agreed to a 1 percent raise for last school year and a 4 percent hike for the present school year. However, when union members voted several days later — a typically tiny turnout — they solidly rejected the offer.
