Woonsocket teachers’ union: Time to talk money
WOONSOCKET – When members of the Woonsocket Teachers Guild got a 2 percent raise last year, it was the first wage hike for the city’s largest employees union since 2009.
So the union’s top priority in the next round of collective bargaining should hardly come as a surprise.
“Money,” says WTG President Jeffrey Partington. “We’re looking for a raise and we haven’t had one in a considerable amount of time.”
With the union’s five-year pact set to expire on June 30, Partingon says negotiations should have already begun if the city wants to iron out a new collective bargaining agreement before the existing pact lapses. At this pace, he says it’s unlikely there will be a contract even before the start of the 2018-19 academic year next fall.
“The biggest issue is we hav- en’t started yet,” said Partington. “I’m concerned we’ll be pressed for time. We usually take five or six months.”
The union president for 11 years, Partington said talks are at least two months behind a normal schedule, but there are no dates set for negotiations between the WTG and the administration of Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt. The two sides, he said, haven’t even exchanged written communications to discuss a possible schedule for collective bargaining talks.
The only communication the union has received came from the School Committee legal counsel Sara Rapport, clarifying the administration’s jurisdiction over the negotiations. Because the school committee is appointed, the authority to negotiate must pass through the mayor, in keeping with the prevailing law.
Rapport, he said, told the union that communications about con- tract talks should be directed to City Solicitor John DeSimone.
Reached for comment, DeSimone dismissed the notion that negotiations are behind schedule.
He said it’s not unusual for negotiations with public employees unions to continue beyond the expiration of their last contract.
“The negotiations aren’t late, and if they went beyond the June 30 deadline that is not unusual in teacher contracts,” said DeSimone. “Just look at Warwick. They went beyond the contract by five years.”
Confirming what Rapport indicated in her letter to the WTG, DeSimone said that the school committee no longer has the same power to negotiate with the teachers union that it had prior to 2014, when it was an elective body. In fact, now that it is an appointive body, it has none.
The authority to negotiate with WTG belongs to the mayor, who intends to appoint a negotiating committee, according to the solicitor. DeSimone said she hasn’t identified the members yet, but it will mostly likely consist of himself, Schools Supt. Patrick McGee and other members of the administration.
He said it’s not out of the question that a member of the school committee could be asked to serve on the negotiating committee, but it would be up to the mayor.
DeSimone said he was unaware of Partington’s concerns about the scheduling of talks.
“If they think negotiations are starting late, you should tell him, neither the city solicitor nor the mayor has received anything from him,” said DeSimone. “I haven’t received anything, not a phone calls, not a letter.”
DeSimone said members of the administration have had some internal planning meetings about the talks, but none have included members of the WTG.
According to Partington, the WTG, which represents roughly 515 teachers, agreed to forego raises for most of the last nine years “because the city didn’t have any money.” Between 2006 and 2011, the union had two contracts that were marked by a number of concessions, provided by union members in recognition of the city’s poor financial condition.
By the time the WTG negotiated its current contract in 2013 – city officials had lost control of the purse strings due to the city’s worsening fiscal health. The state empaneled a Budget Commission to handle the city’s financial affairs and prevent the city from lapsing into insolvency. Labor lawyer Dan Kinder negotiated the last contract with the teacher’s guild, acting as an agent of the commission, said Partington.