Mt. Greylock school board offers 6% raise over three years to teachers

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 09 Jun 2005 16:04:30 -0400
From: Robert Petricca <Robert.Petricca@petricca.com>

Wednesday, June 8, 2005
For Immediate Release

Mt. Greylock School Committee alters contract offer

The Mt. Greylock school committee announces today some key
changes in its contract offer to the Mt. Greylock Educators
Association.
The school committee has offered a three year contract
with a wage proposal of 0% for FY05, 3% for FY06, and 3% for FY07,
resulting in a 6% total increase or 2% average annual wage increase.
The faculty association's latest offer(5/6/05)asks for a 7.25% increase
in a four year contract, for an average annual wage increase of
1.81%
The Mt. Greylock school committee has modified its proposal on teachers' health insurance contribution from asking for a 25% contribution over 3 years to a 20% contribution starting in September 2005. This would make a 80-20 split instead of the current 90-10 split. The teacher's association has offered to increase their contribution to 20% over the next 3 years, giving an 80-20 split, but at the end of the 3 years their contribution would revert back to a 90-10 split. The school committee could not accept this.
Other provisions in the committee's contract offer remain
unchanged. "We are very close on most items," said Petricca, "with
tentative agreements penciled in on all but a few of the points we have
been discussing."
For example, the request that tuition waivers be granted for
out-of-district students whose parents are Mt. Greylock teachers will not be accepted by the school committee. On the surface it is a nice idea, but when we analyzed the loss of revenue to the district, we were
amazed by the large sums the budget would lose and this would benefit only a small number of teachers.
"We are very close to an agreement," Petricca said, "and the School
Committee members are committed to holding negotiating sessions
throughout the summer to reach a settlement.

FACTS:

School Committee:

* 3 year contract (2005-2007)
* 0%/3%/3% pay increases Avg 2%/year over 3 years
* 80/20 insurance split, effective September 2005.

Faculty:
* 4 year contact (2005-2008)
* total average (per employee) raise 1/1.5/2.25/2.5. 1.81% Avg annual
over 4 years.
* 80/20 insuance split phased in over 4 years.
* Sunset clause - employee share reverts to 10% after 4th year (90-10).