MOUNT CARMEL - Raises and contributions to health care costs are at the center of the ongoing teacher contract negotiations in the Mount Carmel Area School District.
The district's 109 teachers have been operating under a three-year contract that expired June 30, 2012 and, despite eight negotiating sessions and use of a state mediator, an impasse remained earlier this year.
With that, the teachers' union requested a Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board (PLRB) fact finder intervene, and a hearing was held May 9.
The fact finder's report was accepted by the district, but rejected by the Mount Carmel Area Education Association.
Report made public
Act 88 of 1992 provides for publication of the report within 10 days if one or both of the parties reject it, and the report was issued Thursday, providing 14 pages of detail about the ongoing negotiations.
Fact finder Rochelle K. Kaplan said the union proposes a step increase for those moving through the salary schedule and a stipend of $1,500 to those at the top of the salary schedule for the first year of the new contract, which would be the current school year that's about to end. In the second and third years, the union proposes a 2 percent increase to the salary, plus step increases.
"The association points out that the salaries of the teachers have been the lowest in the county for decades and the increases it proposes will raise the salaries to a more competitive range," Kaplan wrote.
The school district, meanwhile, proposes a freeze of salary and step increases for the first year. In the two subsequent years, it wants to keep the step movement freeze and allow a 2 percent increase to the salary scale each year.
Mediator's recommendation
Kaplan seems to fall in the middle in her recommendation: a step increase retroactive to Jan. 1, 2013, and a $1,500 stipend to the employees at the top step of the salary schedule for the 2012-13 school year. In the 2013-14 school year, she recommends a step increase plus a .5 percent on-scale increase and, for 2014-15, a step increase plus 1 percent on-scale increase.
Steps, numbering 1 through 20, increase teachers' salaries about $1,500 each year. The amount depends on whether the teacher has a bachelor or master's degree. Steps alone can take a salary from $30,215 in the first year to $59,912 by year 20 for a teacher holding a bachelor's degree, according to information in Kaplan's report.
Kaplan said it's possible to find middle ground.
"The uncertain times do not make arriving at a settlement any easier. That being said, there is no reason the parties cannot bridge whatever gaps still remain to reach an equitable resolution for all," Kaplan wrote. "Approving a new contract between the association and the school district is in the best interest of all the stakeholders - students, professional employees, school board members school administrators, parents and community members."
The district also proposed increasing the amount bargaining unit members contribute to the cost of health care premium from 1 percent of salary to 7 and 8 percent of the premium in the second and third years of the contract. The association, noting the district has saved $100,000 in costs merely from moving to a tiered plan, wants the 1 percent contribution to remain.
Kaplan recommended the district retain the current premium share at 1 percent of salary in the 2012-13 school year, but increase it to 5 percent in the second and third contract years.
The district has also proposed increasing the number of workdays from 185 to 186, while the union wants to make no change. Kaplan's recommendation is to "maintain the current language."
Other issues
There are eight other unresolved issues, including compensation for college credits; personal and emergency leave, and medical, dental and vision insurance payments upon retirement.
A vote to accept the report didn't necessarily constitute agreement or endorsement of the report, but rather represents an agreement to resolve the disputed issues by adopting the recommendations, Kaplan said.
She said she was impressed with the professionalism of the parties and their candor in presenting their positions before, during and after the fact-finding hearing.