Negotiations begin over Sisters teacher salaries

Sisters teachers have proposed a 4.8 percent base salary increase for the 1997-98 school year, guarantees of seniority protection in the event of layoffs and modification of discipline procedures.

In a negotiating session on April 2, teachers and the district began bargaining over the terms of

employment for the last year of a four-year contract that spans 1994 to 1998.

Despite the four-year nature of the contract, salary, fringe benefits and two non-economic issues (from each side) can be renegotiated each year.

The April 2 meeting was the first step in bargaining that is expected to last at least several weeks.

"They have made a proposal. We have listened and attempted to understand it. At the next meeting, we will make our proposal, and they will listen and attempt to understand it," said Sisters Schools Superintendent Steve Swisher of the negotiations process.

Teachers also proposed changes to fringe benefits that would eliminate the current $415 per month cap on what the district pays for insurance for each employee.

Instead, teachers have proposed that the district contractually guarantee "to provide the current insurance benefits package, including medical, dental, and life insurance at no cost to members in the bargaining unit."

Last year, the insurance costs were $414.

Non-economic proposals include a change to Article 17, the "due process" provision of the contract.

Teachers have proposed adding the words "disciplined" and "just cause" to the first sentence of this article, so that it would read: "No member of the bargaining unit shall be disciplined, reduced in basic salary, suspended without pay, or dismissed, without just cause or due process."

The other non-economic proposal from teachers would establish in the contract that seniority, as w

ell as certification, is a primary factor in determining who gets laid off if the district should have to reduce the number of teachers.

The key sentence of this proposal reads: "Teachers who are laid off as a result of the reduction in staff will have the right to displace any less senior teachers whose work they are certifcated to perform."

If added to the Sisters contract, this language could protect teachers from the effects of legislation currently proposed in the Oregon Senate that would eliminate seniority as a basis for staff reductions.

In the teachers' proposal, the 4.8 percent raise would increase the average base salary in the district from $38,755 to $40,615 for a school year of 189 contract days.

The cost to the district of the increase would be approximately 6.1 percent, including the "step increase" teachers earn for each additional year of service (to a limit of 15 steps, or years), and the additional cost of Public Employee Retirement System Benefits, FICA and other programs which are based on salary.

The total additional cost to the district of the proposal would be about $175,000. This includes a base salary increase of $112,544, about $30,830 for the step increases, plus about 22 percent of that total or $31,542 to cover benefits.

It is not known at this time how much the district will receive from the state in basic school support, but the amount is expected to increase from last year as the legislature attempts to equalize per student expenditures across the state.

The next meeting between the teachers and the district is scheduled for April 21. The first offical district budget meeting is scheduled for April 28.