6 years, 6 months ago by Scott Hardy
School Board President Ali says Board is "disappointed"
The possibility of a strike by members of the union representing Quincy teachers and staff has been raised, after a third round of contract negotiations failed Monday night.
That's according to Quincy Federation of Teachers President Jen Drew, who told our news-gathering partners at KHQA-TV that a teacher strike is an option, saying, "I think anyone would be silly not to be concerned about a strike at this point." Negotiators from the union and Quincy School Board members met with a Federal mediator for three hours Monday night, after the board submitted a new offer via email for union reps to form a response. The negotiations, which started in July, are hung-up over the structuring of health insurance, and Drew said this will be a final offer to QF members to vote on. That vote will take place Wednesday, followed by a second vote on how to move forward.
Tuesday morning, Quincy School Board President Sayeed Ali released a statement about the QF's raising the possibility of a strike, saying the Board is "disappointed". In the statement Ali says that the Board has made the union aware of the District's finances, including the fact that the District has had deficit budgets the past two years, and will have an $850,000 deficit this year. Ali also said that the Board understands the union's concerns about the uncertainty of health insurance premiums, saying "because like the majority of Americans, we have those same concerns." Ali says that while the District will pay the "vast majority" of employee premiums, he adds that the Board won't agree to "something we know is financially irresponsible or negatively affects our District's long-term financial health." Ali adds that he hopes the contract situation "can be resolved without the possibility of a strike for the second time in 12 months."
The full statement is below:
The Board is obviously disappointed that the union is looking into this option. Our employees are incredible and do an amazing job for this district and our children. We have genuinely tried to listen and take direction from their leadership. After conversations with union leadership, we cut cost at the Central Office level through our Superintendent’s Central Office reorganization. Throughout the District we collectively cut approximately $1,000,000 from our operating budget. We also wanted to improve communication with our employees, with regard to our finances, so we created a financial over-watch committee. This was to ensure that union leadership would know exactly what numbers make up our budget and how many available dollars we are working with. We finished the 15-16 school year with a $1.3 million deficit, the 16-17 school year with a $600k deficit, and this year we are projecting a $850k deficit. That being said, the School Board realizes how valuable our employees are, not just for our students but the entire community. It’s because of this that our board felt comfortable agreeing to the Union’s proposal after only 5 negotiating sessions. We felt very good about the tentatively agreed upon contract, which enabled us to offer our team members a three-year contract with salary increases in each of those years. The union is aware of the District’s finances; so we believed they would be very satisfied with the contract as well. We understand their concerns about the uncertainty of health insurance premiums, because like the majority of Americans, we have those same concerns. The District will continue to pay the vast majority of our employees' health insurance premiums; but at no point will this board agree to act on something we know is financially irresponsible or negatively affects our District's long-term financial health. The school board remains hopeful that this can be resolved without the possibility of a strike for the second time in 12 months.
