Dear Colleagues,
Our CHTU bargaining team uses the bargaining poll to determine the direction our membership wants when we step into the negotiating room. This year the message was loud and clear that the vast majority of our members want to be paid year round. On Friday, we signed a tentative agreement effective September, 2013 moving from 20 to 26 pay dates on the regular bi-weekly pay schedule. The first pay will be either two or three weeks after we start the school year. We will determine the exact date of the first pay, but it will probably be September 6. There are other details to work out so expect another publication on the pay dates when we know more. The math teacher in me knows at least one thing for certain – a salary divided by 26 will yield smaller checks than the same salary divided by 20.
Other topics of the latest negotiations have focused on the following topics:
-Updating Resident Educator, RIF, and Evaluation language to comport with changes in the law.
-Investigating the normal work day language so that from year to year there could be slight shifts in teacher start times without changing the length of the work day.
-Updating the procedures around grievances, discipline of teachers, pre-employment requirements, Family Medical Leave, and a host of other issues.
On May 31 we begin to discuss money issues. We hope that the truly collaborative efforts in negotiating thus far will extend to salary and benefits. If it looks like we have a tentative agreement that we can bring to the membership we will publish as soon as possible after our next session. With all of the changes we are all enduring either through new laws and requirements, as well as the direction taken by the District with all the different initiatives, it is our hope to be able to conduct a membership vote on a settlement before summer starts.
In Union,
Ari Klein
CHTU President