U-46 bus negotiations fail
About 22,000 Elgin Area School District U-46 students could be without a ride next week if union members today reject a "last, best and final" contract offer.
Monday's failed mediation session between the district and its transportation union concluded a year of negotiations and four meetings with a federal mediator.
Union leaders will now take the district's offer back to its 394 members for a vote this evening, Uniserv director Dave Neal said.
The four-year deal, first rejected by union members Feb. 2, offers a 4.4 percent across-the-board raise for the first two years of the contract. Increases tied to the rate of inflation in the third and fourth years could be between 5.5 and 6 percent, according to district officials.
District U-46 Transportation Union President Doris Cartwright has called the offer "second-best compared to other U-46 administrators and employee contracts."
The recently approved teachers contract, also reached after a protracted negotiation process, gives the average teacher a raise of 6.1 percent in the first year of the contract, 5.7 percent in the second year, and between 4.4 and 5.7 percent in the third year.
District administrators will receive 5.7 percent raises this year, according to John Prince, the district's chief financial officer.
U-46 rejected a salary counterproposal presented by the union Thursday, Neal said. "They've made no movement," he said.
Today's vote will reveal whether members are willing to "save the district from extreme embarrassment," Neal said.
District officials maintain that U-46 bus drivers, mechanics and dispatchers are the highest-paid transportation employees among surrounding school districts. "Under the board's offer, employees would continue to be the highest-paid," a Feb. 21 memo from district attorney Pat Broncato said.
If union members do not approve the contract, the union will likely file an intent to strike this week, Cartwright said. State law requires a union to give at least 10 days' notice before striking.