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More and more school districts and their unions are realizing that they need to change benefit packages and re-think the practice of giving annual raises, according to a recent survey conducted by the New York State School Boards Association.
School officials from almost 40 districts even reported that unions agreed to open existing contracts to make concessions that reflect current economic conditions, which have led to thousands of teacher layoffs statewide, according to Brian Butry, communications director.
“It’s really changing the game,” he said.
They changed health care providers or agreed to contribute more of their own money.
They accepted furlough plans, deferred or cut raises, reduced sick days and established early retirement incentives.
Other districts, including Utica and Syracuse, asked their unions for concessions and were denied, according to the survey.
None of the districts in Herkimer County agreed to concessions. Mt. Markham and Ilion district officials made attempts to negotiate wage concessions, but the talks never reached the point of making actual proposals to bring to union members for a vote.
The Ilion teachers’ union also recently filed an improper practice charge for the manner in which Superintendent Cosimo Tangorra handled the situation. The charge claims he blamed eight layoffs in part on the union’s refusal to agree to wage concessions, attempting to influence union members’ actions.
Mt. Markham teachers took home 4.25 percent raises and non-instructional staff received 50-cents-an-hour more, district officials said. The teachers’ union contract includes 3.75 percent raises for its final year. The budget included 15 layoffs.
The Ilion Teachers’ Association had agreed to 3 percent raises each of three years through 2012. The Ilion administrators’ union contract includes raises of 3.75 percent, 3.85 percent and 3.95 percent through 2012.
But even many of the districts that rejected attempts to open contracts, citing a need to avoid setting a precedent for throwing aside legal agreements, are now agreeing to new contracts that cut raises and rework benefit packages.
“You’re seeing contracts that are being negotiated that are more in line with what communities can afford,” Butry said.
Several of the other districts that did not open contracts did recently approve more austere agreements that will reign in costs for years to come.
These new contracts included measures such as pay freezes in the short term and historically low raises, in some cases cutting traditional 6 percent raises to low figures based on cost-of-living data.
The new direction, “to the credit of both school boards and the unions,” is a result of many people asking a simple question, according to Butry: “What can we do to help save jobs here?”
More and more school districts and their unions are realizing that they need to change benefit packages and re-think the practice of giving annual raises, according to a recent survey conducted by the New York State School Boards Association.
School officials from almost 40 districts even reported that unions agreed to open existing contracts to make concessions that reflect current economic conditions, which have led to thousands of teacher layoffs statewide, according to Brian Butry, communications director.
“It’s really changing the game,” he said.
They changed health care providers or agreed to contribute more of their own money.
They accepted furlough plans, deferred or cut raises, reduced sick days and established early retirement incentives.
Other districts, including Utica and Syracuse, asked their unions for concessions and were denied, according to the survey.
None of the districts in Herkimer County agreed to concessions. Mt. Markham and Ilion district officials made attempts to negotiate wage concessions, but the talks never reached the point of making actual proposals to bring to union members for a vote.
The Ilion teachers’ union also recently filed an improper practice charge for the manner in which Superintendent Cosimo Tangorra handled the situation. The charge claims he blamed eight layoffs in part on the union’s refusal to agree to wage concessions, attempting to influence union members’ actions.
Mt. Markham teachers took home 4.25 percent raises and non-instructional staff received 50-cents-an-hour more, district officials said. The teachers’ union contract includes 3.75 percent raises for its final year. The budget included 15 layoffs.
The Ilion Teachers’ Association had agreed to 3 percent raises each of three years through 2012. The Ilion administrators’ union contract includes raises of 3.75 percent, 3.85 percent and 3.95 percent through 2012.
But even many of the districts that rejected attempts to open contracts, citing a need to avoid setting a precedent for throwing aside legal agreements, are now agreeing to new contracts that cut raises and rework benefit packages.
“You’re seeing contracts that are being negotiated that are more in line with what communities can afford,” Butry said.
Several of the other districts that did not open contracts did recently approve more austere agreements that will reign in costs for years to come.
These new contracts included measures such as pay freezes in the short term and historically low raises, in some cases cutting traditional 6 percent raises to low figures based on cost-of-living data.
The new direction, “to the credit of both school boards and the unions,” is a result of many people asking a simple question, according to Butry: “What can we do to help save jobs here?”
