Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Negotiations Update Nov 17th

Aloha,

On Tuesday, November 17th the Association and the District met for our fourth day of negotiations.  We started the morning by exchanging all of our remaining proposals.  For those of you keeping score at home the District has proposed a 3% salary increase and the Association has proposed a 9.5% salary increase.  The Association has even tried to think outside of the box by offering 15% over the course of two years.  Yes, we are still far apart on salary, but we again want to remind you that the district has received more than a $4 million dollar increase in revenues and the District has allotted $2 million dollars to increase the reserve.  

It is important to note that the Association is still not ruling out the option of increasing the years of service accepted for new hires, but we do not see that as a solution for having a competitive salary schedule.  Our neighboring districts can turn around tomorrow and offer more than 5 years of service and we believe that the District would be in a less desirable position if we actually lost teachers to higher paying districts.  

We continued to spend time on grievances, class size, transfer/reassignment, working days and hours, and are making progress on stipends.  The Association is waiting to hear back from the district if December 17th or January 25th will be our next full day at the table.  Your negotiations team continues to stand strong and ask for your support as we work towards settling a fair and equitable contract for all of our members.

I am happy to answer questions and listen to suggestions and/concerns.  Please do not hesitate to contact me !

Mahalo,
Monique L. Segura
President, Orcutt Educators Association

805-714-9861