Teachers shoot down contract bid
Published on June 6th, 2007
STONEHAM, MA - The town's rank-and-file teachers overwhelmingly rejected a tentative contract agreement during a union vote on the potential deal last Thursday afternoon.
According to Marlene McArdle, the president of the Stoneham Teachers' Association (STA), approximately 75 percent of the votes tallied last Thursday were cast against the proposal.
Based upon the results, STA officers have determined that 80 percent of the bargaining unit's membership participated in the vote.
The potential agreement, which was reportedly negotiated with school officials nearly two weeks ago, received a neutral recommendation from the STA negotiation team. Last Wednesday, STA officials met with teachers to explain the offered agreement.
"I don't know if I was surprised. The negotiating team was very clear with the School Committee that we were bringing back a neutral recommendation," said McArdle.
"It's been a long 18-months. We're going to try to again have a meeting with [Supt. Dr. Joseph Connelly] and the School Committee to see where we go from here," the STA president added.
Reached this Tuesday afternoon at her home, School Committee Chairwoman Maureen Soley expressed her disappointment that the union membership didn't accept the offer.
Outside of the STA, Stoneham's largest employee union, the School Committee also has six other bargaining units to negotiate new contracts with. The teachers' union last contract expired last July, and STA members have regularly packed School Committee meetings and held signs outside of the high school urging town officials to ink a new deal.
Last spring, STA members voted to initiate a work-to-rule policy, meaning that union members would not participate or work in any activities that weren't specifically outlined in their last contract.
"We were very disappointed. We were hopeful that it would have been ratified," said Soley of last Thursday's vote. "We'll continue to talk at some point. We haven't met as a School Committee yet, but we'll talk about where we're heading at our next meeting."
"It's very difficult, particularly in light of the override and all that," the School Committee Chair continued, referring to how the unsure fiscal picture effects the contract talks. "We had hoped we would have some type of settlement so we could factor that in and let people know what we're going to spend."
According to Selectman Paul Rotondi, who authored the five year financial blueprint that calls for the passage of a $3 million override on June 19, last Thursday's vote has no impact on the plan.
Specifically, the Selectman reiterated that the so-called "Rotondi Plan" specifies that the town's employee unions can negotiate any type of salary increase wanted, but must be prepared to live with layoffs should those new contracts not fall within tight financial parameters.
According to Rotondi, he considered the tentative agreement between the town and the STA to be a fair offer, and was disappointed that the bargaining unit didn't accept the deal.
"The rejection of the contract has no implication whatsoever on the plan. The teachers' union has picked layoffs versus what I thought was an equitable agreement," said Rotondi.
"And if there is the need for layoffs because unions and management can't settle within the parameters of the plan, it's still considerably less layoffs [than if the override fails]."
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