By Mike Schnitzel
Coalition collective bargaining has been the standard method of negotiation in Valley Stream, with the high school and three elementary districts holding simultaneous contractual discussions with the Valley Stream Teachers¹ Association. The current contract between the schools and the VSTA expires on June 30, and requires an initial negotiation meeting be held around Feb. 15.
School Board President Anthony Iadevaio said that the board voted to break off from joint negotiations because many of the contract issues were high school-related and could be dealt with more effectively in talks limited to the high school board and the union. After the board¹s vote last August, Iadevaio explained that teacher-student contact time and reconfiguration of the school day were two of the critical issues the board felt it could better negotiate in more-focused talks.
³We¹re looking to give the teachers and taxpayers the fairest negotiations that we can come up with that will be good for both parties,² Iadevaio said.
Superintendent Dr. Marc Bernstein said that the reason the board first voted to break away from coalition bargaining was to give VSTA as much advance notice as possible. The August decision was reaffirmed by a unanimous vote of the school board at its January public meeting.
VSTA President Richard Herrmann said that the high school district has no right to unilaterally pull out of coalition bargaining. ³They would have to put it on the bargaining table, because it¹s part of negotiations,² Herrmann said. ³This would have to be approved after negotiating.²
He also noted that the teachers¹ contract explicitly states that a committee made up of members of all four school districts must meet to discuss matters that are of concern to all of the districts and their staffs. Herrmann said that the district¹s actions are a violation of the contract and the Taylor Law, a labor relations statute that covers most workers in New York, including teachers.
The union has initiated legal action in response to the board¹s decision. In May an arbitrator appointed by the state will consider whether it violates the contract with VSTA, and the issue could be brought before the Public Employment Relations Board, which oversees administration of the Taylor Law.
Dominick Yezzo, a Garden City attorney who has handled labor relations cases, said that a decision to withdraw from coalition collective bargaining is not a matter that must be negotiated between a school district and a teachers¹ union. ³There is no law that says they have to negotiate to break away from the group,² Yezzo said. ³It¹s a bylaw or a regulation, so it¹s an internal matter.²
In a letter submitted by VSTA District 24 Unit Leader Alice Cimler on behalf of the district¹s teachers in response to the board¹s decision, Cimler said that there was a feeling among faculty that the decision would jeopardize the negotiating process and that District 24 teachers fully supported VSTA¹s decision to challenge the board.
In the September-October issue of VSTA¹s newsletter, the union characterized the board¹s decision as an attempt at union busting. ³In all the many years of dealing with the four Valley Stream boards of education and their superintendents inside and outside of negotiations, I have never witnessed such a deliberate attempt at promoting an adversarial, hostile relationship as that lately manifested by this current group who run the high school district,² Herrmann said. ³They have clearly crossed the line and apparently don¹t care.²
Iadevaio denied accusations that the board was attempting to destroy the union. ³We are not out there to hurt anyone or go union-busting,² Iadevaio said. ³We¹re looking to best address the concerns of the elementary and the high school people, and we feel this is the best way to do it.²
When asked whether VSTA would boycott contract negotiations in light of the coalition bargaining dispute, Herrmann replied, ³We will abide by whatever our legal obligations are while all this is being litigated.²
Iadevaio said he does not believe that the new setup the high school district wants for negotiations will negatively impact anyone. ³If they negotiate the way we¹ve set it up, I don¹t think there will be a problem either way,² he said. ³We¹ll see if we¹re right or wrong, and if we¹re proven wrong then we¹ll go back to the way we negotiated before.²
This is not the first time the high school district has attempted to withdraw from joint negotiations. In 2003, then-superintendent Dr. Ronald Valenti proposed that the district discontinue coalition bargaining with VSTA in favor of one-on-one negotiations. After a joint meeting of the four school boards that April, the high school board ended up withdrawing the resolution. At the time, Valenti said, ³As long as boards achieve their legitimate bargaining goals, they will remain politically satisfied with the current practice of joint negotiations.²
Coalition collective bargaining was formalized by a resolution passed in 1965 establishing a Joint Boards Negotiating Committee. Under its terms, each of the three elementary districts and the high school district selected members to sit on the committee and jointly negotiate contracts with VSTA, which was formally recognized by the school boards as the sole representative of Valley Stream teachers in 1966.
According to an article in the November 1988 issue of the New York State School Boards Association Journal written by Harris Dinkoff, coalition bargaining helped streamline labor negotiations. Dinkoff, who served in several capacities in Valley Stream schools, including chief negotiator for the Joint Boards Negotiating Committee, said that employee dissatisfaction with different provisions in the four districts¹ salary schedules increased the need for cooperation among the boards to develop a single set of salary guidelines.
Richard Herrmann said that the uniformity of salaries and benefits for teachers helps maintain stability in the districts and keep them from competing for faculty. ³And why would you want to waste time with four separate negotiations when you can have one?² Herrmann said.
Comments about this story? MSchnitzel@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 265.
