TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Teachers Set To Vote On Contracts

ADVERTISEMENT

By RONNIE BLAIR rblair@tampatrib.com

The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 24, 2009

LAND O' LAKES - With just five months left in the school year, teachers and other school workers in Pasco County may finally get new contracts.

Employees of the Pasco County School District are scheduled to vote Thursday on whether to ratify recently negotiated pacts with the Pasco County School Board.

The contracts, which don't include raises or step increases, then would go to the school board for approval Feb. 3.

Lynne Webb, president of United School Employees of Pasco, told the board this week that the union plans to count the employees' votes the evening of Feb. 2.

She said the union's executive board met Jan. 10 and voted to recommend that the contracts be ratified.

The contracts - one for teachers and one for other employees, such as cafeteria workers, custodians and bus drivers - have been a long time in the making.

Negotiations, which most years finish in time for the start of school in August, lasted six months and at one point were at a near standstill.

The school district's dire financial situation, brought about by a statewide revenue shortfall, prolonged the talks.

Frustrated by the lack of progress, the union declared an impasse in November, and a special master was assigned to hear the case, though the impasse hearing never took place.

The two sides also tried mediation, with no success.

After the school board met in closed session in December to discuss the negotiations, Terry Rhum, the district's employee relations director, asked the union's negotiators to meet again in a "last-ditch effort" to find a resolution.

By then, school employees had begun to tell union representatives that they were more concerned about avoiding layoffs and preserving their health benefits than they were about getting raises. Jim Ciadella and Robert Benjamin, the union's chief negotiators, agreed to a meeting, and the tentative pact was reached.

Under the agreement, the school district will continue fully funding health benefits for employees, which will include paying a $191 increase in per-employee costs. Employees will continue to pay to insure their family members.

The school district has nearly 10,000 employees.

The district and the union also agreed to create a budgetary committee they hope will make future negotiations run more smoothly.

Webb said the union plans to meet with employees Tuesday night to explain the contract.

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT