Teachers set to vote on a contract proposal
Published on May 30th, 2007
STONEHAM, MA - Stoneham's rank-and-file teachers will vote this Thursday on whether to ratify a tentative new contract agreement recently negotiated with school officials.
According to Marlene McArdle, the President of the Stoneham Teachers' Union (STA), the bargaining unit's negotiating team has not attached any particular recommendation to the tentative agreement.
However, after more than 12 months worth of often stalled and frustrated talks - Stoneham's teachers have been without a contract since last July - STA officers agreed that it was time to hear the collective voice of the union's membership.
"I will say we're presenting a neutral recommendation. We just felt the membership needed to have all the information and make a decision," the STA president explained.
"[There's] a meeting tomorrow to inform the membership about what the offer is," added McArdle, referring to a scheduled gathering this Wednesday. "The vote will be on Thursday and I would expect that we'll count the votes at 4 p.m."
Reached in his office on Tuesday afternoon, Schools' Supt. Dr. Joseph Connelly - as did McArdle - declined to comment on the specifics of the tentative deal, as the potential new contract has neither been endorsed or signed.
However, the supt. stressed that the agreement would follow the tenants of the so-called "Rotondi Plan", the five year financial blueprint that calls for a $3 million override this June and adherence to strict spending guidelines.
Under the town financial plan, endorsed by four of the town's five Selectmen and the entire membership of the School Committee and Finance Board, all new union raises must be funded through savings gained through retirements, employee health insurance contribution concessions, or streamlining government functions.
"That's right," responded Connelly, when asked if the tentative deal fell within the blueprint's provisions. "That's something the School Committee takes very seriously. Any or all contract agreements will fall within the conditions of the five year budget plan."
If the STA did support the deal this Thursday, the school system would still have ink new deals with its six other employee unions.
According to Connelly, the School Committee has scheduled contract talks with the nurses, paraprofessional, custodial, and secretaries unions in the coming weeks.
Of the seven collective bargaining units within the school system, and the six others on the municipal side, the town's teachers union boasts the largest membership.
"It's our goal to solve these contract issues before the end of the year," Connelly explained. "We've gone a full year now without a contract being signed. So it didn't happen this year and it may not next year. But we're hopeful it will happen."
"If it's not ratified, my guess is we go back to the bargaining table," responded McArdle, who was unsure what the next step would be, should the deal be rejected this Thursday. "We'll have to get together and say, 'where do we go from here?'"
While the school sector may be within days of inking its first new contract renewal, Town Administrator David Ragucci explained that the municipal side's ongoing collective bargaining discussions remain stalemated.
According to Ragucci, who has conferred with the School Committee throughout the negotiating process, the two sides remain deadlocked over the town's request for health insurance concessions.
And with Stoneham's financial picture being as gloomy as it is, the town has its hands tied in terms of what it can offer in exchange for those increased medical coverage contributions, the Town Administrator contended.
"They are working off of the same sheet of music as we are," said Ragucci of the school system's negotiations.
"The town really has no money to negotiate contracts with. Obviously, if the town is looking for a kick-back on the health insurance, the employees want compensation for that," continued the Town Administrator.
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