OAK HARBOR – The union representing 285 school support employees has requested the aid of a state mediator to help in negotiations with the school district over a new three-year contract.
Schools Superintendent Rick Schulte said Friday that the district also called for a mediator.
“There’s been zero progress, or changes, in their proposal,” Schulte said of the union.
Tony Silveira, president of the Oak Harbor Public School Employees union, said workers have been without a contract since Aug. 31. The district and union started negotiating in April and have held 13 sessions.
“Classified school employee compensation should not be an afterthought,” Silveira said in a news release.
Silveira, a 19-year maintenance department employee, said the two sides disagree on three issues: wages, medical insurance and training.
On wages, the union is asking for pay comparable to like-sized districts. A union survey shows, for example, technical employees making $7 per hour less.
Schulte said the district disagrees with some of the comparisons. Some were drawn from large districts in King County, he said.
The union also wants the same health insurance as teachers and administrators.
Schulte said the union at first didn’t even address that. The administration brought it up, and is not necessarily opposed to it, he said.
And the union wants more pay for first aid and training for bus drivers and funds for government-mandated paraeducator training.
Schulte said the district has paid for training in the past, even though it wasn’t required to by the contract. He also said two years ago an arbiter ruled the district did not have to pay for first-aid training. Schulte said the district plans for an increase in training payments, just not as much as the union wants.
The union also is fighting to maintain seniority provisions related to overtime and bidding on open positions.
The union filed for mediation Thursday and is waiting for a response from the state Public Employment Relations Commission in Olympia.
The union represents accounting and instructional assistants, custodial, warehouse, food service, grounds, maintenance, secretarial-clerical, security, information services, professional-technical and transportation workers.
Assistant city editor Steve Powell: 425-339-3427 or powell@heraldnet.com.
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