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| NEA-RI President Larry Purtill (Photo courtesy of Pat Crowley) |
By Karen C. Jenkins in RIFuture.org
Prompting an exercise of “they said, they
said,” the Chariho School Committee released a public statement
Tuesday night, taking issue with the
conduct of Chariho teachers concerning the parties’ ongoing contract dispute.
The Committee also released the full text of the Labor
Board complaint the teachers filed against it and the
ensuing written arguments, causing National Education Association (NEA) Chariho
President Bob Mayne to speak out with his own accusation.
“I’m rather disappointed with the
School Committee’s attempt to distract everyone from the issues they
created. Their negotiations statement reads that the ‘Chariho Regional
School District Committee will not engage in personal attacks, intimidation
tactics, mockery, and the distribution of misinformation,’ as if accusing
teachers of doing so,” Mayne stated.
“By withholding the wages related to
longevity and advanced degrees they are attempting to intimidate the educators
negotiating on behalf of all NEA Chariho members into settling for this reduced
level of compensation. This intensely adversarial relationship was created
by the Committee’s decision to unilaterally and illegally change the compensation
for Chariho’s educators. I am concerned that the collaborative working
environment that existed between the leadership and educators of Chariho before
this year will never recover.”
The Labor Board complaint arose from
the Committee’s unilateral elimination of all longevity and advanced degree pay
for teachers – mandatory as part of the negotiated agreement – as well as any
step increases – guaranteed in state statute. In addition to noting the
illegality of those actions, the complaint states that “the School Committee’s
unilateral action in reducing teacher compensation has the effect of
Interfering with the function of the Union by attempting to force concessions
during negotiations for a successor agreement…”
The Committee’s rebuttal stated that
the fact that the union walked out of a bargaining session August 20 and
cancelled a subsequent session “opened the door” for it to impose the reduced
pay schedules. NEA Chariho’s reply indicated that the union felt at impasse and
made known its intent to call for mediation, as allowed by law.
A growing number of parents, former
students, and community members have spoken out in favor of restoring teacher
pay and settling the contract, to avoid further erosion of teacher-School
Committee relations. No progress was reported from mediation session last
night.
Karen C. Jenkins is the
Communications Director for the National Education Association RI.