By:Nick Buglione
Some 700 teaching personnel from East Meadow-s nine schools have been without a contract for about a month, since their five-year deal expired on Aug. 31. Though representatives of the East Meadow Teachers Association and the district met four times, beginning in May, to hammer out a new five-year contract, the two couldn-t come to terms, and a mediator is being brought in to facilitate the collective-bargaining process.
During the third and fourth meeting, their attorney began mentioning that he doesn-t see us going anywhere, and that a third party is the only way we-re going to get together on a deal, said John Gallagher, a middle-school teacher for 15 years and president of the East Meadow Teachers Association, the union that represents East Meadow teachers, school nurses, intervention assistants and other personnel. They declared an impasse after the fourth meeting, and we don-t feel we-re at that point.
The vast majority of the teachers who attended the standing-room-only meeting didn-t speak, yielding the floor to Gallagher, who, in a prepared statement, tore into district officials, charging that a culture of antagonism exists in East Meadow. Times and practices in East Meadow have changed, said Gallagher, explaining that in recent years, administrators have grown distant and increasingly difficult to get in touch with. He received a standing ovation from his colleagues when he finished speaking, at which time the teachers left the board room en masse.
Saying Gallagher inaccurately characterized the situation, East Meadow School District Assistant Superintendent Leon Campo chastised the teachers for walking out before Superintendent Dr. Robert Dillon could respond. When you walk out, how are you going to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement? Campo said. You have to be optimistic to really reach a settlement.
Both sides are tight-lipped about what specific aspects of the contract negotiations are in dispute, though Campo did say the union put together a list of 50 demands that far exceeded what the district could possibly do. I-ve never seen a list of demands that are so unrealistic, he said.
The district also produced a list of 10 demands it wants from the East Meadow Teachers Association, which includes a health insurance concession that has the union up in arms. Citing skyrocketing health insurance premiums, the district wants teachers to put more money into their plan. They currently contribute 15 percent, but the district wants to kick that up to 25 percent.
We would like them to value the teaching staff as much as their administrators, said Mary Bartoszek, vice president of the East Meadow Teachers Association, referring to the raises top district officials have received in recent years.
Since becoming superintendent in 1999, Dillon has received some $60,000 in raises, and his salary approaches $200,000 a year, according to documents obtained by the Herald through the school district. Recognizing the teachers- contract would be up in 2004, some residents expressed fear that Dillon-s raises would encourage teachers to seek loftier salaries and complicate negotiations.
The district and union have already met once with a mediator provided by the New York state Public Employment Relations Board. They are scheduled to meet again in November. [PERB provides] up to three sessions of whatever length at the cost of the state, Campo said. The purpose is to try to clarify the issues so that both parties can really come down to what-s important.
If the two parties can-t come to terms with the help of the mediator, negotiations will move into what-s known as the fact-finding stage, in which a PERB representative reviews and evaluates both sides- proposals. This helps both parties judge the proposals from the standpoint of cost, ramifications and commonalty, Campo said. It helps narrow the issues being discussed.
The union said it is surprised how quickly the district solicited outside help for the contract talks. I-ve been involved with negotiations with the district before, and impasse has never been discussed before this early in the process, Bartoszek said.
The district, meanwhile, is pointing the finger at the union. Campo said all other labor organizations representing district employees are able to successfully negotiate their contracts in little over a month. Every one of our other bargaining units is able to negotiate with three to four sessions, he said. What-s different here? The only thing that-s different is the East Meadow Teachers Association-s attitude toward bargaining.
Since teachers are considered public employees, the Taylor Law prevents them from going on strike. Until a new deal is reached, they will continue to work under the terms of their expired contract. And the union said it plans to keep pressure on the district until that happens. Most likely, we-re going to be at every board meeting until we get a settlement, Bartoszek said.
East Meadow parents present at the meeting seemed eager for the two sides to come to terms. Think about how you-d feel if your contract is over and you didn-t have a new one, said Nadine Salzman, a parent of two East Meadow students and a New York City schoolteacher.
Although the East Meadow PTA Council is not taking sides on the issue, President Judy Shiechel said the sooner the district and the union are on the same page, the better. Of course you want to have people working well together within the district, she said.
