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Labor negotiations put teachers,
school district to the test
by John Tawa
The labor contract between teachers and the Manhattan Beach Unified School District expired June 30. A new labor agreement is nowhere in sight. And negotiations have turned ugly.
The district's approximately 285 teachers have discussed "working to the contract." That means doing everything required of the labor agreement from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., but not performing extra work for which teachers are not compensated. The district, which is facing a severe budget crisis and a November bond vote, can hardly afford another controversy.
The central issue is money. In July, Governor Gray Davis signed a budget that gave schools an additional $1.8 billion statewide. Manhattan Beach's allocation from the state increased 10.17 percent - a 3.17 percent cost of living allowance (COLA) and a 6.996 percent repayment of "per student" money withheld from the district in past years when the state faced budget constraints. That amounts to $2.65 million.
The money was given to districts to retain and attract teachers, said Linda Fredricks, president of the Manhattan Beach Unified Teachers Association. She added that other area districts such as Palos Verdes and El Segundo have already settled in principle for double digit percentage increases.
"Ten percent. It's a gimmie," she said.
The school district counters that the district can use the money to satisfy any number of priorities, because Governor Davis didn't earmark the funds for salaries only.
"He said this is for the local school officials to decide what to do with," said attorney Fram Virjee, the district's chief negotiator.
In the past year, the district has faced a severe financial crisis, Virjee said, which stemmed primarily from a massive and unexpected rise in special education costs. The district has had to cut programs and also has cut certificated and classified positions.
Each percent of salary increase is $245,000 that would need to be cut elsewhere, explained Deputy Superintendent Scott Smith.
"What we want is to negotiate a fair and equitable settlement in light of the fiscal restraints affecting the district," Virjee said.
"If we want to be competitive, and if we expect to maintain the best teachers, and if teachers have proven their worth in this district, as they have by any standard measurement, it is wrong for that teacher group to have to subsidize figures over which they have no control," Fredricks said.
Negotiations began in June, when the teachers association presented successive proposals to the district. The first asked for a 10 percent pay raise. A subsequent proposal 10 days later asked for a 20 percent increase. Last year, the teachers received a 4.89 percent increase when similar districts gave between 2 and 3.5 percent raises.
The 20 percent demand for 2000-2001 left district negotiators perplexed.
"We can't figure out what's going on here," Virjee said. "Have they forgotten what we did last year? How can they expect 20 percent?"
"Here's the rationale," explained Fredricks. "In April, this board had a meeting at which time it was considering a principal's [Lynn McCormack of Mira Costa's] salary going from $90,000 to $100,000. In addition, the principal received a tax-sheltered annuity of $10,000. [That's] a 22.5 percent salary increase. We spoke to the board at the time. We said we have absolutely no qualms with anyone in education getting a raise of that magnitude. We all deserve it. But if you have money for one, you must ensure that you have money for all. And if you don't have money for all, you can't have money for one."
Since their initial demand, very little has happened. Requests for a counterproposal by the district were rebuffed, Fredricks said.
"We were told there could be no counterproposal until the state passed its budget," she said.
After the state budget passed in July, the association again contacted the district with requests for a counterproposal or a face to face meeting.
"We made several attempts to meet formally and informally with the district," said Mira Costa teacher Bill Fauver. "All were rebuffed."
"It was our impression that they didn't want to meet during the summer because they're off on vacation," Smith said.
The two sides finally met on Aug. 23, but the district didn't offer teachers a concrete counterproposal at that time.
Smith said that although El Segundo and Palos Verdes have reportedly settled for 11 percent raises, those districts have been unwilling to date to send Manhattan Beach their salary schedules.
"The district said it wanted to compare itself with other area districts and be comparable to other salary schedules," Smith explained. "That's what our board has directed us to do."
"When we gave 4.89 percent last year, it was very clear the district couldn't fund that out of the increase in revenue from the state," Virjee added. "We talked about that with the union and we told them that the district was showing support for its teachers by granting a compensation increase above what it would be expected to grant in light of revenues coming in. But that this will make negotiations tough for next year because we'll have to pay for the increase once again next year before we can give a salary increase."
Last year's increase put Manhattan Beach at the top of the salary schedule in Los Angeles County in many of the salary ranges, Virjee asserted.
Manhattan Beach teachers, however, countered that last year's increase doesn't tell the whole story.
"Since the district unified we've seen a progressive degeneration in our salaries," Fauver said. "The district would like to take last year and isolate it. But if you look at the last four years, we rank eighth out of 12 districts in terms of compensations as far as percent of raise."
In area districts with a comparable demographic mix - Palos Verdes, Torrance, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach and El Segundo - Manhattan Beach teachers ranked second over the four-year period described. They ranked first if only the last three years are compared. The average annual increase for a Manhattan Beach teacher was four percent.
Manhattan Beach teachers also are paid comparably to their counterparts according to 1999-2000 salary information. Only Palos Verdes has a higher starting salary and only Redondo Beach has a higher top salary. Manhattan Beach rates highest in the mid-range category. (See chart page 10).
"We have a good salary schedule and that's why I was so frustrated when I learned of reports that we're the lowest around," Smith said. "We're a very high paying district."
Top schools in Orange County have substantially higher salary schedules," said Middle School teacher Sara Ford. "Good school districts there are paying their teachers much better. It's enough to where we may see the exodus."
"The economies have finally changed so that teachers are now a demanded quantity," added Mira Costa teacher Bob Timberlake. "Experience is important and experience is highly prized. If someone came to me and said you can work at XYZ school for an extra $4,000 a year, I'd have to consider that very important to me and, more importantly, to my family."
Although the teachers agreed that they would not strike or engage in work slowdowns while they negotiated a new agreement, they insist that working to the contract doesn't violate that agreement.
"A slowdown, which we would never enter into, is when we fail to perform those services which we are bound to contractually," Fauver explained. "But we can refuse to volunteer our time. We can refuse to give our services for pay that is substandard, that is, below our professional rate of pay. It hasn't come to that yet, but it may."
Last night, the school board discussed the teacher's demands in closed session. A second bargaining session is being scheduled. But unless there is a quick settlement, teachers say the damage will be done.
"We will come to a salary settlement,' Fauver said. "But the process you go through says as much as the amount of the settlement. If we get 10 percent, but have to go through this humiliating, degrading and insensitive process, it won't necessarily [boost morale]. This has the potential to really poison the waters. And it's unfortunate because it's such an opportunity. It's free money, designed to retain and attract teachers."
"This is an opportunity to bring us together and they are squandering it. It is incomprehensible to me," Fauver said. ER