After nearly two years of bargaining, organizing, and working together to make our voices heard, SDEA members have voted overwhelmingly to ratify a fair contract with SDUSD. With over 45% of SDEA members voting, the final tally was 3,062 voting yes and 108 voting no. With a 97% approval, the vote demonstrates a strong foundation for the upcoming years.

This contract demonstrates that, even in tough economic times, districts and unions can find solutions which protect students, parents and our entire community. Together we are stronger!

“Educators are continuing our practice of supporting public education from our own pockets,” said SDEA Vice President and Bargaining Chair Marc Capitelli. “We have once again protected our students during these catastrophic economic times. But we also recognize that this practice of cutting state support cannot continue at the expense of our students and our own families. We will now refocus our efforts on pushing the state to live up to its responsibility to fully fund a well-rounded education for every student.”

The major features of new contract include:

• Five furlough days in the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 school years.
• Reinstatement of all furlough days in 2012-2013, plus additional increases of 2%, 2% and 3% spread over the course of the 2012-13 school year.
• An agreement to cut healthcare costs by increasing co-pays and other minor healthcare changes.
• Contingency language guaranteeing that improvements to the District’s fiscal circumstances would cancel the furlough days or restore compensation to members.
• Improved class size protections at the elementary and secondary levels.
• Protections for nursing and counseling staffing levels.
• Protections for educators who retire during the next two school years.
• Other no-cost contract improvements. Visit the bargaining updates page for the full text of the agreement.

SDEA’s Proposed Furlough Dates Approved by SDUSD

Negotiators from SDEA and SDUSD met Friday morning, March 12, to finalize the calendar of furlough days for the 2010-11 school year. SDEA’s team came prepared with extensive input from members and site representatives. Based on the overwhelming preference indicated by members, the days selected are as follows:

• Traditional Calendar: June 14-17, and June 20, 2011 (ending the school year one week early).
• Year-Round Calendar: April 27-29, 2011 (extending spring intersession); June 17 and 20, 2011 (creating a four-day weekend after the testing window).
• CDCs: November 22-24, 2010 (giving members Thanksgiving week off), June 17 and June 20  (creating a four-day weekend). NOTE: State restrictions which require CDCs to remain open a set number of days may result in a change of dates for CDCs—we will keep members posted if these dates change.

ALL MEMBERS PLEASE NOTE: Effective the 2010-11 school year, Spring Break is set an equal distance between winter and summer breaks, and is not attached to the Easter holiday. Members who observe religious holidays during this or any other time of the school year are advised to check Article 10.3.5 of the contract for religious holiday leave rights.

This is your contract and your vote.

This ratification vote is an important opportunity for SDEA members to demonstrate our strength and our unity. A strong vote turnout will show the District that we are united in our commitment to ensuring that our new contract is enforced, united in our commitment to ensuring that our next contract builds upon our hard work over the past two years. The District has heard us loud and clear over the past 22 months. Let’s make sure they hear us now.

Membership Meetings

SDEA will be conducting eight membership meetings at the SDEA office to discuss the details of the TA prior to the ratification vote. Hard copies of the agreement will also be provided at the membership meetings. Members can visit the bargaining updates page for a detailed summary and to download the TA ahead of time. The dates for the meetings are:

• Wednesday, March 3 — 3:30 and 5:30 p.m.
• Thursday, March 4 — 3:30 and 5:30 p.m.
• Friday, March 5 — 3:30 and 5:30 p.m.
• Saturday, March 6 — 10:00 a.m. and Noon

Voting Instructions

Ballots were mailed to members’ homes on Wednesday, March 3. Ballots must be received (not post-marked) at the SDEA office no later than 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 13 in order to be counted. Members who have not received a ballot early next week should come to the SDEA office to have a replacement ballot signed out to them. Only SDEA members may vote; non-members/fee-payers cannot vote. The ratification vote is occurring concurrently with the election for SDEA officers for the 2010-2011 school year. Please carefully review the voting instructions enclosed with your ratification ballot to ensure that your vote is counted!

SDEA’s leadership believes this contract represents a monumental victory for educators, students, parents and the entire San Diego community. This is likely the strongest overall education contract in California. To have achieved this success, during these difficult financial times, is a tribute to SDEA members standing strong behind their bargaining team and SDEA leadership. Let’s stand strong together again.

Together we really are stronger!

After nearly two years of bargaining, organizing and working together to make our voices heard, the 8,000-plus members of the San Diego Education Association have reached a tentative agreement on a fair contract with the San Diego Unified School District. This contract represents a monumental victory for educators, students, parents and the entire San Diego community. San Diego’s teachers stood strong together in the face of tremendous odds and demanded a contract that recognizes the incredible work we do every day and that meets the needs of our students — and through our unity, we won!

Through hard work and a real commitment to our schools, SDEA members have bargained an agreement that protects our students and our classrooms during harsh economic times by saving the District tens of millions of dollars over the next two years. Despite the fact that SDUSD’s educators are among the lowest paid in the County, our members have agreed to five furlough days in each of the next two school years in order to preserve class sizes and protect programs and services such as nursing and counseling for San Diego’s children. In acknowledgement of SDEA members’ long struggle under the burden of sub-standard wages, and our increased sacrifice over the next two years, the School Board agreed to do the right thing and restore our salaries plus salary increases of 7.16% over the course of the 2012-2013 school year.

The SDEA bargaining team could not have reached this agreement alone. When SDEA’s team sat across the table from the District bargaining team, they didn’t see just six or seven faces — they saw more than 8,000 educators standing behind us. It was two years of consistent and collective action that won this contract. In an environment that has resulted in teachers statewide taking drastic and irreversible cuts to their salaries and healthcare, class size increases, and the loss of other crucial protections, SDEA members continued to fight for what was right for workers and right for kids — and we have succeeded. Our hard work together shows that it can be done and how it can be done: through ground-up organizing and real solidarity.

SDEA will be conducting membership meetings at the SDEA office to discuss the details of the tentative agreement on the following dates and times:

• Wednesday, March 3 — 3:30 p.m.
• Wednesday, March 3 — 5:30 p.m.
• Thursday, March 4 — 3:30 p.m.
• Thursday, March 4 — 5:30 p.m.
• Friday, March 5 — 3:30 p.m.
• Friday, March 5 — 5:30 p.m.
• Saturday, March 6 — 10:00 a.m.
• Saturday, March 6 — Noon

The major features of the tentative agreement include:

• No changes to the salary schedule during 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 school years.
• Five student-contact furlough days each in 2010-2011 and 2011-2012, equivalent to a 2.7% salary decrease each year for members on a 184-day contract.
• Reinstatement of all furlough days in 2012-2013, plus additional increases as follows:
  • 2% on July 1, 2012,
  • 2% on Jan. 1, 2013, and
  • 3% on June 30, 2013.
  • This results in a compounded 7.16% salary increase on top of our current rate of pay as we head into the 2013-2014 school year.
• An agreement to bargain the following four benefits changes proposed by VEBA through the joint District-Association Health and Welfare Benefits Committee:
  • A dependent eligibility audit.
  • A $100 monthly copayment for those who waive coverage through another employer and receive compensation for waiving coverage,
  • The change to the dual-coverage provision as proposed by VEBA, and
  • Ten-dollar co-pays in the Kaiser and Pacificare HMO plans, effective January 2011.
• Contingency language designed to preclude budgetary hijinks, guaranteeing that improvements to the District’s fiscal circumstances would cancel the furlough days or result in direct compensation to members.
• Strong protections for educators who retire during one of the furlough years, and whose retirement earnings through CalSTRS are negatively impacted due to the 2010-2012 salary reductions.
• Class size caps as follows:
  • Effective fall 2012, a hard cap of 36 students at secondary levels, and
  • Effective fall 2012 and contingent upon action at the state level, a cap of two above the fully funded Class Size Reduction level (currently 20 students) for grades K-3.
• Protections for nursing and counseling staffing levels – positions must be staffed, not simply funded with moneys that can be spent on other things.
• A five-year evaluation cycle for eligible members.
• Stronger protections for unit members who are required to move their classroom/work space due to Prop. S construction.
• The ability to use three rather than two accumulated sick days for personal business each year.
• The incorporation of agreements and MOU’s reached over the past two years, including strong workload protections and a forthcoming new model for special education workload.
• Other non-monetary contract improvements.

Stay tuned for updates on our upcoming contract ratification vote.

Together we are stronger!

San Diego’s educators have committed to doing our part by offering furlough days to ensure that class sizes are kept low, that layoffs don’t happen, and that nursing and counseling services are guaranteed for kids. Now it’s time for the members of the Board of Education to step to the plate and do their share.

The SDEA and SDUSD bargaining teams will meet again tomorrow, Feb. 24 to discuss SDEA’s reasonable settlement proposal, which balances the fiscal realities of our state with the needs of students and those who educate them. We will continue to be out in full force at every Board meeting until the District reaches a fair settlement with SDEA members.

Even while SDUSD teacher pay ranks among the lowest in San Diego County (33^rd of 43 County districts, according to the Sacramento Bee), the San Diego Education Association has proposed a pay cut in order to preserve class sizes and protect programs and services in our neighborhood schools. Teachers are sending a clear message to our community: Public education is the cornerstone of San Diego’s future, and teachers will continue to do our part to protect our students.

But the District’s history of wasteful spending, combined with the current economic crisis, puts the future of our students and our city at risk. In our Feb. 4 bargaining proposal to SDUSD, SDEA members call on the District to make an equal commitment to protecting our students by:

• Keeping class sizes low by not laying off teachers,
• Preserving core student programs and services like nursing and counseling, and
• Bringing San Diego teacher pay up from among the lowest in the County once the current economic crisis has passed.

Patrick Henry High School English teacher Mark Frerichs spoke at the rally, demanding that the School Board accept SDEA’s fair and reasonable proposal so educators and students District-wide can get back to the critical work of teaching and learning. “After years of overwork for underpay, in massive numbers and with a unified voice on behalf of our kids, San Diego’s teachers come here to offer the District money,” Frerichs said. “Teachers call on SDUSD to embrace fiscal responsibility and accept teachers’ pay cut offer.”

What’s at Stake for SDEA Members and our Schools

On Thursday, Feb. 4 SDEA presented the SDUSD bargaining team with a counter proposal to the District’s Jan. 19 proposal. Backed by thousands of teachers, nurses, counselors, librarians and other professional educators, the San Diego Education Association has proposed a pay cut in order to preserve class sizes and protect programs and services in our neighborhood schools.

In January, the District proposed a three-year contract, effective July 2008, with an eight percent salary reduction effective September 2010. The District further proposed a plan for salary restoration that would occur in the distant future, with no contractual guarantees that repayment would actually occur. The SDEA bargaining team found the District’s proposal utterly unacceptable, and launched a series of city-wide membership meetings during the week of Jan. 25 to seek input from SDEA members in the critical work of constructing a counter proposal.

The counter proposal SDEA presented to the District on Feb. 4 represents the input we gathered from the SDEA members who participated in those meetings over the past week. Through those tough conversations, a clear direction emerged. Across the District, an overwhelming majority of those who participated authorized the bargaining team to craft a proposal including a temporary pay reduction to preserve class sizes and protect programs and services. Accordingly, SDEA presented the District with a counter proposal extending through 2012-2013 including:

• No changes to the salary schedule during 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 school years.
• A prohibition on any layoffs that would take effect during the 2010-2011 school year.
• Three student-contact furlough days each in 2010-2011 and 2011-2012, roughly equivalent to a 1.6% salary decrease each year.
• Reinstatement of the furlough days in 2012-2013, along with salary increases bringing us well above current levels. Any improvements to the District’s fiscal circumstances would cancel the furlough days or be applied to the salary schedule.
• Class size caps, protections for nursing and counseling staffing levels, a five-year evaluation cycle for eligible members, and other non-monetary contract improvements.

Through this counter proposal, SDEA members are also sending a clear message to our community: When it comes to our schools, we’re all in this together. Public education is the cornerstone of San Diego’s future, and teachers will continue to do our part to protect our students.

The Voices of Our Members

San Diego Unified School District’s history of wasteful spending, combined with the current economic crisis, puts the future of our students and our city at risk. In their February 4, 2010 bargaining proposal to SDUSD, SDEA members are now calling on the District to make an equal commitment to protecting San Diego’s children by:

• Keeping class sizes low by not laying off teachers,
• Preserving core student programs and services like nursing and counseling, and
• Bringing San Diego teacher pay up from among the lowest in the County once the current economic crisis has passed.

SDEA members are taking back control of the debate and exerting our own power over the destiny of the schools we work so hard to strengthen and protect. When presenting SDEA’s counter proposal to the District, the SDEA members on the SDEA bargaining team shared their thoughts and feelings regarding the damage that the District did to their relationship with our members in proposing an unacceptable eight percent salary cut. Videos of those words members delivered to the District bargaining team may be viewed at our newly launched YouTube channel. Meghann Hughes, a bargaining team member from Kearny High School, is featured below:

The counter proposal was also accompanied by a cover letter summarizing not only the content of the proposal, but SDEA members’ frustration toward and expectations of the District, as shared with us through the all-member meetings. Members may download the letter, or watch a video of SDEA President Camille Zombro introducing and reading its contents, as delivered to the District bargaining team.

What’s Next: RALLY FOR A FAIR CONTRACT

SDEA members are making a commitment to protect our schools during these difficult times. Now it is the District’s turn to step to the plate. SDEA members must support the bargaining team and demand that the School Board accept our fair and reasonable proposal, so that we can all get back to the critical work of teaching and learning.

On Tuesday, Feb. 9 at 4 p.m. SDEA is rallying outside the Education Center to make sure the Board hears our voices loud and clear. Click here to download the rally flyer. Wear your red SDEA t-shirt and bring your family, friends and kids!

Location: SDUSD Education Center – 4100 Normal Street, San Diego, 92103

For more information about SDEA’s Feb. 4 counter, and to download the most recent SDEA and SDUSD proposals, visit the Bargaining Updates page.

In keeping with the SDEA bargaining team’s commitment to bringing important decisions about the future of our contract directly to you, SDEA held fourteen all-membership meetings this week to identify and implement the strongest bargaining position possible given current conditions. SDEA members District-wide came and participated in incredibly tough and candid conversations.

We know there is a great deal of misinformation and confusion surrounding the District’s proposal and the path before us. Members are asking, has the union endorsed an eight percent cut? Why is the District asking me to verify my seniority date? Are layoffs a foregone conclusion? Is my voice being heard, or is our future a done deal?

Your union leadership understands the legitimate anxiety and anger that SDEA members are feeling right now. We are committed to winning the best possible contract for San Diego’s educators — a contract that we can all rally around and defend. Let us be clear and direct:

• The purpose of these meetings is NOT to discuss whether the District’s proposed eight percent wage cut is acceptable or has any merit. It is NOT and it does NOT.
• SDEA’s membership is committed to fighting tooth and nail any and all layoffs should the District go down that ugly road. San Diego’s children cannot learn without teachers.
• Your union leadership hears you, and we promise you that our counterproposal to the District will reflect the questions and concerns you shared with us over the past four days.

Through the tough conversations we’ve had together this week, a clear direction has emerged. Across the District, an overwhelming majority of those who participated voted to authorize the bargaining team to explore the possibility of giving a little to get a lot back — with strong contractual guarantees. That being said, there are two meetings scheduled on Monday, Feb. 1 (3:30 and 6:30 at the SDEA office). We want to hear every SDEA member’s voice — this is your chance to speak.

Our bargaining team’s next step will be to craft a counterproposal that we all can rally around, and that reflects the feedback you shared with us this week. But the hard truth is that a handful of people sitting at a bargaining table are powerless unless the District sees all 8,000 of you standing behind us. In the weeks ahead, your Association Representatives and other union leaders will be calling on you to act collectively in support of our bargaining proposal. We need you now. If we are going to protect our jobs, our standards and our profession, we must stand together as educators and union members, and commit to continue to act collectively until we reach a fair resolution

If we stand together WE WILL WIN a fair contract

TOGETHER WE ARE STRONGER!

Make no mistake: our leadership and bargaining team believe that the District’s proposal is deeply flawed (and unacceptable in its present form). But it is up to all of us to evaluate where we currently are, what options are before us, and the best way for our union to proceed with bargaining.

Let’s gather once again to listen to each other and voice our concerns. SDEA is in the process of scheduling a series of full membership meetings throughout the District during the week of January 25. Please contract your Association Representative and make arrangements now to attend a membership meeting. For more information regarding the District’s proposal, visit the Bargaining Updates page.

Membership Meetings Update

Please download the finalized schedule for next week’s all-membership meetings. The file below contains directions and parking instructions for each site.

• All Member Meeting Information

“We put in a lot of hard work for our school and in return we expect security and fairness,” says Tubman teacher Wendy Wells. The next step for the 11 teachers at Tubman Charter will be to bargain a fair union contract.

The charter school movement is growing, but most charter school employees still don’t have a union. A lower rate of union membership in public education is a threat to all teachers, even those of us who are already union members. SDEA members are helping charter school teachers organize because in the fight for better jobs and better schools, we’ll be stronger if District and charter teachers stand together!

Congratulations to the Tubman Charter School Organizing Committee: Wendy Wells, Vicki Niday, Rachel Varga, Rachel McCoy, Shivani Burows-Goodwill, Michelle Mead, Spencer Kim, Jeff Collings, and Lynda Motsenbocker.

]]> http://www.sdea.net/2010/01/sdea-successfully-organizes-tubman-charter-from-ground-up/feed/ 0 http://www.sdea.net/2009/11/sdea-reaches-workload-agreement-with-district/ http://www.sdea.net/2009/11/sdea-reaches-workload-agreement-with-district/#comments Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:13:58 +0000 eclark http://www.sdea.net/?p=1144 After months of negotiations, SDEA and SDUSD have reached an agreement on Maintenance of Workload!

On Tuesday, Nov. 17, the SDUSD School Board met to consider SDEA’s proposal on member workload submitted on Monday, Nov. 9. SDEA’s proposal consisted of two interdependent Memoranda of Understanding (MOU), each addressing unit member workload. The first MOU addresses workload issues during the 2008-2009 school year, while the second Memorandum of Understanding addresses potential workload issues that may arise in the future, and is designed to be incorporated into Article 8: Hours of Employment once the entire contract is settled and ratified by membership.

On the evening of Nov. 17, the Board’s attorney emailed a counter offer to us that included points of clarification on parts of the SDEA proposal, but maintained the essential elements and issues addressed within the SDEA proposal. The District’s proposal was well received by the members of the SDEA Bargaining Team, and both parties have signed off on the two MOUs. Click here to download the final agreement. For more information about SDEA’s Maintenance of Workload proposals, visit the SDEA Bargaining Updates page.

While the workload agreement represents a major bargaining victory, the fact remains that our current collective bargaining agreement expired over a year ago, and we have a lot of work ahead of us to achieve a fair contract. SDEA anticipates that upcoming bargaining sessions will focus on remedies for outstanding special education workload issues, as well as the complete settlement proposal SDEA provided to the District in September. The SDEA and District bargaining teams have agreed to two dates for future bargaining sessions:

• Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009
• Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010