Following another state mediation session with Newton Teachers Association and an NTA vote of “no confidence” in Mayor Ruthanne Fuller and the Newton School Committee, the Committee is offering a little more money to teachers and staff.
The email begins on a testy tone, with the School Committee saying the NTA has added in a bunch of proposals they had previously given up on in addition to a “dramatically increased” cost of living adjustment in pay.
“Typically, the parties to a negotiation normally strive to reach agreement rather than to get farther apart,” the email reads.
Then the message turns hopeful.
“Nonetheless, in response to some very good news that after numerous discussions and collaboration with the Superintendent and School Committee, the Mayor made a commitment for additional funding to NPS utilizing the City’s overlay surplus,” the email continued. “This weekend, the Superintendent announced a plan to use the money in a number of important ways to respond to educator and district needs. These are needs that the NTA has identified during our negotiating sessions as important priorities for the staff as well. Those needs include additional social workers and mental health supports for students, reducing high school class sizes and improving coordinated prep time for elementary school teachers.
But don’t spike the eggnog for a toast yet.
The NTA sent out its own email, written by NTA President Michael Zilles, accusing the School Committee of “bad-faith bargaining” with that COLA increase.
“The School Committee Bargaining team and its lawyer once again ‘packaged’ a minimal increase in the cost-of-living adjustments with the contingency that the NTA accept ALL of the proposals they have on the table and withdraw ALL of the proposals the NTA has on the table,” Zilles wrote. “Their public declarations to the contrary, their ‘package proposal’ is not only absurdly unrealistic, it is the product of bad-faith bargaining.”
COLA changes
The School Committee is now proposing using some of that newly available money to increase cost of living adjustments.
Here is the School Committee’s new proposal for COLA for all units:
First year of contract, units A, B and E
- 2.25% increase for people who are stepping. These employees already receive an average 4% annual increase. This would bring their yearly salary adjustments to an average 6.25% total increase.
- 2.75% increase for people who are on the top step
Second year, units A,B and E:
- 2.25% increase for people who are stepping
- 2.75% increase for people who are on the top step
Third year, units A,B and E:
- 2.75% increase for people who are stepping
- 3.25% increase for people who are on the top step
First year of the contract for Unit C:
- 2.5% increase for people who are stepping
- 2% increase for people who are on the top step (currently paid highest among surrounding districts)
Second year, Unit C:
- 2.5% increase for people who are stepping
- 2% increase for people who are on the top step
Third year, Unit C:
- 3% increase for people who are stepping
- 3% increase for people who are on the top step
First year of contract for Unit D (in-school substitutes):
- 2.25% increase for people who are stepping and who are on the top step
Second year for Unit D:
- 2.25% increase for people who are stepping and who are on the top step
Third year, Unit D:
- 3% increase for people who are stepping and who are on the top step
Winter of discontent
School Committee Chair Tamika Olszewski started Monday’s School Committee meeting, right after that mediation session, by addressing the tension of the contract negotiations that have stretched over the past year.
“Since October of last year, the School Committee has been arguing in good faith with the Newton Teachers Association to settle a contract that provides competitive salaries and benefits and that is financially responsible,” Olszewski said.
Olszewski acknowledged the NTA’s vote of “no confidence” in the Committee and the mayor, saying that such votes “neither uncommon nor unexpected at this juncture in negotiations.”
But Zilles said the overwhelming participation of the vote speaks volumes about its meaning,
“Of the 1,926 NTA members who were eligible to vote, 1,642 attended a before-school, after-school, or lunch-time meeting in their buildings to vote. Of those who participated, 1,635, or 99.6% voted no confidence in the school committee and Mayor Fuller’s leadership,” Zilles wrote. “To pretend, as Chair Olszewski did, that she was simply informing the public that this is ‘typical,’ or ‘normal,’ to claim that the public need not concern itself about the votes of 1,642 NTA members, that their voices do not matter–illustrates very clearly why the members of the NTA have no confidence in this school committee and this mayor.”