Teachers rally at Conestoga High
BERWYN » Teachers from the Tredyffrin-Easttown Education Association picketed the school board meeting at Conestoga High School Monday night, seeking a new four-year contract. Their current contract expired July 1.
Bob DeSipio, president of the 400-member Tredyffrin-Easttown Education Association, said teachers, who instruct more than 6,500 students, deserve a fair contract.
“Despite multiple offers to meet with the school board this summer to continue the negotiations process, we did not meet until the end of August,” DeSipio said. “We want the school board to know that it is not just the five or six of us on the bargaining team that are upset with the slow pace of these negotiations, but also a membership of more than 400 highly educated and highly dedicated educators. We want to reach a fair and competitive settlement as quickly as possible.”
The school board is looking to settle contracts of the Tredyffrin/Easttown School District teachers (TEEA), the TredyffrinEasttown Non-Instructional Group (TENIG) and Act 93 (administrators) all of which expired on July 1.
Under the proposed contract, Scale A, custodians would receive an hourly pay rate of $14.39 per hour in 2017-18 and $15.62 per hour in 2020-21. Security personnel would receive $15.41 in 2017-18 and $16.72 in 2020-21. Maintenance personnel would receive $22.61 per hour in 2017-18 and $24.53 in 202021. Food services workers would receive $13.36 per hour in 2017-18 and $14.50 in 2020-21. Those employees in secretarial or clerical or accounting would receive $16.44 per hour in 2017-18 and $17.83 in 2020-21.
In the last four-year contract (2016-17) the custodians received a 2 percent salary reduction and had to give back an entire week of their vacation. The other members of Tredyffrin-Easttown Non-Instructional Group (security, kitchen, maintenance, and cafeteria) saw a 4 percent cut in pay, but their vacation benefit remained intact. The district’s teachers, however, received salary increases based on their step movement in the matrix.
In addition, the contract that just expired protected the jobs of the district’s teachers and included a no-furloughs or demotions clause through June, 2017.
Employees enrolled in the Blue Cross medical plan will contribute 6 percent of their pay in 2017-18, and 8 percent in 2020-21, or the fourth year, according to terms of the proposed contract. A dental plan, with a deductible of $25 per person or $75 per family, and a vision care program are also included in the proposed contract. It also offers group term life insurance at one time the employee’s normal base salary rounded to the next thousand dollars at no cost to the employee.
Except for custodians, employees in the proposed contract will get five days of paid time off for one year of service, 10 days for two years, 15 days for seven years, 20 days for 14 years and 25 days for 25 years of service. the end of
The tentative agreement calls for a 2.7 percent wage increase in 2018-19, a 2.92 percent increase in 201920; a 2.45 percent increase in 2020-21; a 2.53 percent increase in 2021-22; and a 2.36 percent increase in 2022-23, with additional bonuses for teachers at the top of the pay scale.
Currently, the average Tredyffrin/Easttown teacher earns $82,983 per year. In nearby Upper Merion, the average teacher salary is $93,043; in Radnor, $87,213; and in Lower Merion the average teacher salary is $99,253.
Art McDonald, business manager at Tredyffrin/ Easttown School District, said the public can receive updated information on the progress of the negotiations on the district’s website at www.tesd.net. It will also include a Q&A, he said.