U-46 approves raises for secretarial employees

The Elgin Area School District U-46 school board this week approved an agreement on a five-year contract for secretarial employees.

It guarantees raises ranging from 3 percent to 3.25 percent and increases the employee health insurance contribution from 10 percent to 15 percent over the contract term, said Jeff King, U-46 chief operations officer.

The agreement covers 293 full- and part-time employees - primarily secretaries and clerical workers, as well as a few information services employees.

"Pay increases will be tied to evaluations," King said. "The contract eliminates comp time, sunsets the retirement clause, moves to combine part-time secretarial staff with clerical at the elementary and middle school levels, and changes the compensation for extra duty."

The vote was 5-2 to approve the deal. School board members Jeanette Ward and Phil Costello cast the dissenting votes.

"In the private sector, guaranteed year-on-year raises not tied to merit are rare," Ward said. "In the future, I would like to see tiers based on performance so that not all employees receive the same raise, if they are merely proficient."

Ward said she disagrees with a contract provision that allows for employees hired before Jan. 1, 2019, retirement at age 55 and provides a bonus during the last four months of their employment, enough to increase retirement earnings in the final 12 months of employment by 6 percent.

"So as to be just below the amount that would incur penalties," she said. "I don't think pension spiking should be permitted at all."

Employees also would receive health insurance coverage after retirement at 50 percent of the single rate for 60 months or until the employee reaches the age of Medicare eligibility, Ward said.

"Such sweetheart deals are not on par with the private sector and agreements like this perpetuate the fiscal problems in Illinois," she added. "The top rate of pay for level A, B and C employees is $2 to $9 per hour higher than the average for surrounding districts."

Costello said he wants more attention paid to the process of giving raises.

"At the end of the day, there is just a little bit too much looseness in the way we approached this," he said. "Some people aren't even given evaluations. And if they are not given evaluations, they are assumed to be proficient. They need to be held accountable."