Bargaining Update #9

       
​                 REA brought counters for Article 26A: SPED Services and 26C: Social-Emotional and Wellness Support Services. The district had struck language around serving unhoused youth from 26A stating it wasn’t relevant to SPED services, so REA moved that language to 26C to ensure it will be addressed by our Social Emotional and Wellness committee. Both sides agree that the language in 26C works and this article will likely be tentatively agreed to soon. In 26A REA had proposed that SPED staff receive an 8% stipend up 6% from where it currently is at 2%. RSD came back and proposed that SPED staff receive just 5% and removed language that staff can use the special compensation form when they need extra hours to complete their duties. REA does not believe 5% is enough if the district is going to take away members' ability to also use the extra compensation form, so this article will still need more work before we are willing to agree to it.
          RSD created a financial presentation that showcased what our current proposals would cost them. The presentation was, frankly, underwhelming and left REA with more questions than answers. Here is a link to that presentation: RSD Costing of REA Proposals.pdf RSD then presented their proposal for Article 22: Employee Compensation. They countered our 13%, 12%, 11% with 5% in year 1, 1% in year 2 and 1% in year three. This is only an overall 1% increase from their initial proposal of 3%, 2%, 1%. These numbers do not keep up with inflation and will keep us near the bottom in terms of pay among the Metro 14 districts. They maintained that they wanted to strike January 15th as an opportunity for column movement which would decrease the number of times members can submit paperwork to move on the salary schedule. They also struck language we want added concerning honoring years worked in the district by classified staff who move into certified positions citing they need to research labor laws. REA feels strongly that we should honor folks who have spent time and worked hard in RSD as classified staff and will not allow this language to be removed. The district and REA had a discussion concerning REA’s language changes regarding credits earned subsequent to a master’s degree. Clair Thiel guest spoke to share how current contract language impacted her movement on the salary scale and how REA’s language change would have made a difference for her and others in her same position. Thanks Clair! The district agreed to changes made by REA to the years of experience coaches need to move up on the salary schedule but did not agree to our changes concerning assistant coaches moving into head coaching positions. There was also an interesting exchange between the district's lawyer and Brian Jay regarding outside organizations paying for staff to run clubs. REA wants to ensure staff are paid at our rate for their time running clubs, rather than whatever the outside organizations rate is. The lawyer did not seem to understand our position and argued that we cannot control how outside organizations pay and run their programs. 

             REA and the district have agreed to an additional all day bargaining session on Saturday, June 1st. This session will be held in the RHS library from 8:30am to 4pm. It will be open to the public and members are welcome and encouraged to show up! We are really getting down to the wire and it’s clear the district is trying to rush the process in order to wrap up bargaining by the end of the school year. REA, we have got to put the pressure on to keep the district in check and remind them that quality bargaining requires time and thoughtfulness! We will not let them push us to finish if we aren’t ready solely because they do not want to spend the time creating a solid contract with us.