[Editor’s Note: An update from the President of the Teachers Union to members.]
Your Culver City Federation of Teachers bargaining team (Carmen Campos, Casey Chabola, Natalie Gualtieri, Kevin Cronin and I) has reached a tentative agreement with CCUSD, concluding this year's negotiations.
We will send you the exact language of the agreement, and we'll vote next week.
The highlights:
• 2.5 percent salary increase (retroactive to July 1, 2013).
• An increase to the benefits cap (what CCUSD contributes to your benefits) of $775 (also retro to July 1).
• An increase to the cash-in-lieu-of-benefits payment from $3,000 to $4,230 (the single coverage cap).
• One new step on Class 3 for teachers working at the Office of Child Development
• One new step for teachers working in our Adult School program.
• An increase in the hourly extra-duty rate to $36.59 (effective after ratification).
• A $20,000 payment to teachers retiring this year ( if at least 10 teachers participate).
• Maintenance of the eight meeting-free Wednesdays to provide elementary prep time.
• Contractual language regarding timely communication from teachers to parents.
This is an excellent settlement, and we will be recommending that you ratify it. We did not achieve all of our goals (we need additional steps to Class 3, 4 and 5 on the K-12 salary schedule), but this settlement moves us closer to our goal of reaching the compensation median in Los Angeles County.
The partnership that we have developed with the CCUSD administrative team and with our School Board is paying dividends. Previous negotiation cycles were characterized by a management team trying to offer us as little as possible. In this brave new world, we're working with an administrative team that is determined to invest as much as they can in our greatest asset: our employees.
Check with your site reps or any member of the team if you have questions or concerns – and we'll get you all the details soon. Ratification procedures have not yet been determined.
Stay tuned.
Mr. Mielke, president of the Teachers Union, may be contacted at davidmielke@ccusd.org
