Hello CTU,

Here’s our update from negotiations today. We are incredibly disappointed in the lack of movement from the district.

What Happened Tonight

The district presented responses on wages and parental leave and held on our proposal about adding members to the unit. They made no movement on any of our other proposals. What does this mean? 

The district is rejecting:

• Paid parental leave – they have offered only three weeks for this year and four weeks for next year
• Coverage pay for clerks working two jobs at once
• More steps for paraprofessionals
• Pay for paraprofessionals toileting and diapering students
• Class size and caseload caps
• 30 minutes for lunch
• Using sick time to care for family members
• Additional lanes and steps for educators
• Access to sick bank for family members
• Increased vacation time for clerks
• Additional lanes for educators
• Fewer PD days
• Increased degree stipends for clerks
• Implementing the multilingual stipend this year
• Equitable tuition reimbursement for clerks
• Increased longevity for educators
• Clarity on open houses and family-educator conferences
• Quarterly work from home days for school psychologists
• More instructional time for students
• Eliminating department meetings
• Increased union time for the president and vice president

This feels like a long list because it is. The district has made no movement on 33 of our proposals since May. We need you to show them this is unacceptable. 

We have repeatedly shown that we are interested in settling the contract as soon as possible, so long as the terms are good for our students and our members. The district is not showing the same urgency.

We are asking for living, competitive wages for paras, clerks, and educators. We are asking for readjustments for paras that will give us a starting wage of $37,000 / year by the end of the contract. The district is offering only $31,294. We are asking for readjustments for clerks that will give principal clerks a starting wage of $36.30 an hour, about $70,785 a year. The district is offering only a 1 percent increase from their last proposal. We last asked for a 22.5% raise for educators. The district is offering 12%, only a 1% increase from their last proposal, 2% lower than our last contract and leaving us far behind surrounding districts.

In solidarity,

CTU Negotiating Team