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Teachers demand seat at bargaining table
by John Tawa
More than 140 teachers, most wearing badges with the word "Together" printed on them, overflowed the Manhattan Beach City Council chambers Wednesday night. They were there to demand that the Manhattan Beach School Board settle an ongoing salary dispute between teachers and the school district.
The district's contract with the Manhattan Beach Unified Teacher's Association (MBUTA) expired at the end of June. Late that month, MBUTA proposed a pay raise of 20 per cent for the 2000-2001 school year. But as of last Wednesday, the district had made no concrete counterproposal, nor have serious negotiations taken place.
"We are incredulous at the lack of response from this district," MBUTA president Linda Fredricks told the Board. "We waited for a counterproposal throughout the summer. There was none. We're still waiting for one."
Teacher Bill Cooper shared a quotation from a Palos Verdes board member, where teachers recently settled for an 11 per cent raise. The PV official reportedly said, "When Governor Davis doled out the surplus, we gave it to the teachers. We owed it to them."
"There is no question we are one of the finest school districts in the state," added Manhattan teacher Sara Ford. "And there's no question that we deserve to be compensated at that level."
In July, Gov. Gray Davis signed a budget giving state school districts $1.8 billion more than they had gotten the year previous. For Manhattan Beach, the increase amounted to more than a 10 per cent increase - or about $2.65 million - in its General Fund. The teachers have demanded that they receive at least that amount, on top of the 4.89 per cent increase they received the year before.
The California Brown Act prohibits the Manhattan Beach School Board from directly responding to the teachers' demands. However, board president Lynette Campbell did say that it spent an hour discussing collective bargaining in closed session.
"We provided specific authority to our negotiator and directed him to contact MBUTA and immediately schedule a bargaining session," she said.
On Monday, Fredricks said that no one from the district had contacted her.
"I heard the word 'immediately' but I heard nothing from the district on Thursday or Friday," she explained. "I had to call to find out what was going on."
Fredricks said that both sides were targeting Friday as a possible date to resume negotiations.
"Let's hope we can come to the table," she said.
On Tuesday, Campbell said that the district and teachers were really closer to an agreement than the teachers think. The district wants to pay teachers at the high end of comparable and surrounding districts' pay scales.
"We would like to position ourselves somewhere where we're making a statement that we believe in our teachers and we want to attract the best," she said. "They want to talk percentages and we want to talk position on the salary schedule, but we both want to get to the same place."
Campbell said the strong showing from the teachers would not sway the board.
"We're very proud of our position," she said. "We're going to try really hard to maintain our position for the teachers on the salary schedule. So I'm personally not feeling any kind of conflict with them. I'm not sure they understand how much we value them. I thought we made it clear last year."
Campbell added that the negotiations should not impact Measure M, the $26 million bond for Mira Costa High School improvements going to the voters in November. To date, the MBUTA has withheld its support from the measure.
"The bond is a great thing for Mira Costa," she said. "It's really unfortunate that there's a feeling that if there isn't a quick settlement, it might not be good for the bond. To hold your support ransom for something that might not have anything to do with the bond is unfortunate.
"In the end, I'd hope that teachers as individuals would say the bond was a good thing and they won't take a position that hurts the district or the kids. It's going to be a tough campaign. It's going to be a sad day if the bond loses because of posturing for something else." ER