Teachers settle ‘very fair’ contract with school board

HAMILTON >> Call it a kumbaya moment.

The Hamilton Township teachers union and Board of Education have quickly reached a timely Memorandum of Agreement for a new labor contract.

“Both sides worked hard on it,” said Frank Gatto, president of the Hamilton Township Education Association, “so we are very happy with it.”

The three-year successor contract, if ratified by HTEA’s general membership and the nine-member school board, will go into effect when the current labor agreement expires June 30.

In an interview with The Trentonian on Tuesday, Gatto would not disclose any details about the MOA but described it as “very good” and “very reasonable.”

“I think it is a very fair and equitable contract,” Gatto said, “and I think it was a lot of hard work on both sides. That’s what I am happy about. If it’s ratified, we are going to have a contract going into next year.”

Previous contract negotiations between HTEA and the township Board of Education have been slow, protracted and contentious as teachers publicly demanded fairness and “respect.”

HTEA members, for example, worked the entire 2015-16 schoolyear on a lapsed contract before the union and school board finally approved a retroactive labor agreement in September 2016. A similar contract standoff occurred during the 2018-19 academic year.

But negotiators on both sides quickly settled a new contract this year, avoiding the drama and acrimony of prior cycles.

“This Agreement, reached prior to the expiration of the current contract, was made possible through a collaborative effort to put past difficulties in bargaining aside and focus on achieving a deal that is beneficial for Hamilton teachers and staff and the Hamilton Community,” school board members Richard Kanka, Pam Kelly, and Dina Thornton, and HTEA leaders Gatto and First Vice President Pasqualin “Patty” Adonizio said in a joint statement issued last Friday.

HTEA represents more than 1,300 public school employees ranging from teachers and custodians to librarians and other support staff. These members will be presented with the MOA contract details before voting on its ratification in the coming weeks, according to Gatto.

The HTEA president complimented the school board’s negotiations committee and the administration of Superintendent Scott Rocco, saying district leaders worked with HTEA negotiators in good faith to reach a “very fair” contract that would run from July 2021 through June 30, 2024.

“It is always nice when you work out a plan together,” Gatto said. “We came up with the best possible contract during a difficult time. I think it was very fair.”

For the teachers union and school board negotiators to quickly hash out a timely contractual framework during the COVID-19 pandemic, “It’s a really good thing for the Hamilton community,” Gatto said. “That’s the only way we are going to get out of this pandemic. It is going to take tremendous team work. It’s going to take teamwork to get out of this together.”