Teacher contract talks resume in Dist. 204
Teachers union leaders and school district representatives are back at the bargaining table in Indian Prairie Unit District 204, where educators will start the new year Thursday working under an expired contract.
Negotiations for a deal to replace a three-year pact that expired June 30 resumed Aug. 13, said Paul Gamboa, president of the Indian Prairie Education Association, the teachers union for the district of roughly 28,500 students from parts of Naperville, Aurora, Bolingbrook and Plainfield.
A wide majority - 85 percent - of the roughly 2,000 teachers the union represents rejected a tentative two-year agreement the school board and the bargaining group reached in May.
That rejection, along with scheduling conflicts among teachers, administrators and union representatives, led to no deal being reached before the school year begins.
District officials said they can't talk publicly about the sticking points or remaining topics of discussion in negotiations. Gamboa said the meeting last week was productive, but he didn't offer details about what was covered.
The proposed contract teachers rejected would have given them raises in each of the next two years, but also would have eliminated post-retirement insurance and the 6 percent raises teachers generally receive in their last years of employment.
Gamboa said the next negotiating session is scheduled for Aug. 28.