U-46 teachers union, school board head back to respective corners
The Elgin Area School District U-46 school board and teachers union will each reconvene Monday to decide the next course of action after union members decisively rejected a tentative contract agreement this week.
The two sides reached a tentative three-year agreement last month. Though the deal received backing from union leaders, including a statement from the union president, there were vociferous opponents who took to social media like YouTube and sent emails in recent days urging teachers not to accept the agreement.
In the end, the outcome was decidedly one-sided. The result was 1,319 votes against the contract and just 673 votes in favor of it.
The governing body of the teachers association, known as the representative assembly, will decide whether a new bargaining team is needed, union President Kathryn Castle said Friday.
In addition, a survey of the membership will be completed to determine the most pressing concerns and to gather input on acceptable ways to resolve the issues, Castle said. A top issue, Castle said, is time.
“We have struggled since 2007 to achieve an understanding with the District as to what has been a significant increase in the required workload and how that continues to impact on our students,” Castle wrote in the statement. “When time was raised as an issue at the table, our bargaining team knew that the entire membership needed to be part of the conversation. During discussion over the past week, members continue to struggle with what they feel are mixed messages from the District on how best to distribute our diminishing resources to have the greatest impact on the day to day learning in each classroom.”
U-46 spokesman Tony Sanders said the school board will hold a special closed session meeting to determine its next move. Sanders did not provide further details, but said the district would be “prepared to meet whenever needed.”
Although Castle did not directly address the possibility of a strike, she said the next steps would be processed through the representative assembly. A new law also changed the requirements for a union to strike. Before a union can strike, an impasse must be declared 15 days after the start of mediation. Then, each party must submit its final offers to the other party, mediators and the Illinois Education Labor Relations Board within seven days of an impasse. The final step is to make public the final offers and cost summaries on sticking points.
“Job action, going on strike, cannot occur until impasse has been declared and the statutory timelines have been met,” Castle said in message to members. “Overall this process takes about 30 calendar days.”
Although both sides agreed to a federal mediator, the action was placed on hold and a facilitator chosen by the union was present at the final three bargaining sessions. It is not yet known if the federal mediator will be used once negotiations restart.