School district collective bargaining units set to discuss contracts
SMMUSD HDQTRS The slumping economy is more than about the mortgage crisis and rising gas and food prices.
As the two major collective bargaining units for the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District prepares to renegotiate their contracts next month, one factor that could play a significant role in shaping discussions about wages and health care is the larger state of financial affairs in the country.
The almost recessionary condition of the economy could only exacerbate a procedure that by nature can be a tug-of-war.
“It makes negotiating and coming to an agreement with labor associations and unions very difficult when there is so much uncertainty in the economy,” said Jan Maez, the chief financial officer for the school district. “The national economy is one thing that we’re all of course keeping a close eye on, but the difficulty in moving the state budget this year has caused a great deal of concern.”
Both S.E.I.U. Local 99, which represents the classified employees, and the Santa Monica-Malibu Classroom Teachers Association are in the middle of a contract and plan to reopen discussions for certain terms, including wages and salaries. The Service Employees International Union inked a three-year contract in the spring that included a 3 percent increase. The teachers union also received a 3 percent raise earlier this year.
Leaders for the two organizations say they are looking to up the pay level, citing the important role they serve in helping run what is known as one of the best school districts in the state, and pointing out the high cost of living in current times.
Keryl Cartee-McNeely, the chief steward for S.E.I.U. in Santa Monica, said she believes reaching a deal could be tougher than usual.
“We do have a classification study that gives significant increases to quite a few classified positions and our goal as the union is to make sure again that our membership and our employees are being paid salaries that are comparable to like positions in the community,” she said.
James Devine, a professor of economics at Loyola Marymount University, said the current state of the economy is hurting unions whose members will find they have to compete with the growing number of unemployed workers for jobs.
“We had a steep rise in unemployment beyond 6 percent and we’ve been having job losses regularly for the last nine months,” Devine said.
Devine said that in times of unemployment, employers don’t suffer as much as the employees, which could lead to more compromising by the latter.
But he added it’s hard to determine whether the economy would have a substantial impact on labor negotiations.
“It could make the employer bolder … and workers more likely to give in,” he said.
The Santa Monica Municipal Employees Association recently reached an agreement with City Hall for a new contract,a process that President Jeri Wingo believes was also made more strenuous by the slumping economy.
The contract was approved in July. “We had a hard time getting an increase,” Wingo said.“Gasoline has increased tremendously and most of our employees don’t live in Santa Monica and can’t afford to.”
Karen Bancroft, the human resources manager for City Hall, said she doesn’t believe financial conditions led to a difficult negotiation process.
“Everyone is tied into a COLA [Cost of Living Adjustment] formula that has a cap on it,” Bancroft explained. “The maximum we’re obligated to pay is 4 percent COLA. That is a standard with all the contracts.”
In a school district where the budget is said to be in its most stable condition in years, teachers union head Harry Keiley said he doesn’t believe the economy will have much of an impact.
The Board of Education on Thursday presented to the public the district’s intention to reopen contract negotiations with the teachers union, a process — which is required by law — that is called “sunshining.” The board “sunshined” the articles from the existing contract that will be negotiated this year, which includes salaries and health benefits.
“The state of our local school district economy is strong,” Keiley said. “It’s secure and quite simply, our employees deserve a salary increase.
“They need a salary increase and the school district can afford a salary increase without compromising the solvency of the district or compromising any program.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 22, 2008. Read the original PDF.