FEA Bargaining Update
December 1st, 2015
Quick Summary up to this Point
Bargaining Meeting (Monday November 30th, 2015) - Board of Ed Room (4:00-5:30)
In Monday’s session, the Board (through Bob) responded to the majority of our language changes and discussions are ongoing. One area in which we are starting to see movement is, looking forward, it looks like the district will pay 100% of our non health benefits (PAK B - Dental, vision, and LTD). The district also provided us with their viewpoints on district finances. It is clear that we have some work ahead of us before we can reach an agreement on a financial package. Our next bargaining session is scheduled for Dec. 15th. Our team will be meeting on Thursday, Dec. 3rd to further discuss our strategies. Our team is working hard to ensure we reach a settlement that is fair to our membership as well as the district. In order to achieve that, we may be calling upon you to provide support for our bargaining efforts. Remember our bargaining power rests with you, the membership, and solidarity is more important now more than ever.
Members Present
FEA Representatives
- Lynn Vanderberg
- Kris Olson
- Zack Stucky
- Jackie Ball
- Derek Woycehoski
- Lisa Dirske
- Krista Abbott
Board of Ed Representatives
- Bob Szymoniak
- Mark Mesbergen
- Lonna Hoogewind
Next Board Meeting
We have had success in using our Board meetings to make positive change for our teachers. Our Executive Board has laid out a great plan to ensure we have more of a voice in our district.
- We started by ensuring we had a voice in our teacher evaluation and layoff procedure. We knew this was an ongoing frustration with our teachers, but because of new state laws, we could no longer bargain over these matters. With that said, with the turn out of our members to our September Board Meeting, we were able to get a seat at the table for discussions on changes to teacher evaluation and layoff procedures.
- Our next goal was to begin a dialogue with our admin teams about the increased workload at our elementary buildings. These issues were brought to us by our building reps at our monthly meetings, and with the turn out of members to the October Board meeting, we were able to set up meetings with elementary FEA reps, building principals, and Allison to begin discussions about working smarter, not harder.
- We believe it is now time to turn our messaging to reflect our desires in bargaining at our future Board meetings. Our largest goal will be to work on a messaging system that showcases our value to the district and the need for our district to budget for financial movement for teachers.