Teachers’ union mediation continues

Every two years, the district’s teachers, and teachers statewide, have the opportunity to renegotiate their contracts with the district. Contracts expired June 30, and in July, the union, Education Minnesota International Falls Local 331, filed for mediation with the state’s Bureau of Mediation Services. The state-funded service is meant to help settle disputes during negotiations between government employees and their employers.

The district’s negotiating team includes Superintendent Jeff Peura; Nordquist; school board vice-chair Willi Kostiuk; and board director Michelle Hebner.

On the teachers’ union side, negotiators are union president and Falls High School social studies teacher John Sandberg; dean of students Kevin Grover; and industrial technology teacher George McDonald. The district currently has approximately 70 teachers.

So far, three mediation sessions have taken place. The mediator assigned to the case, Levai Babaya, held the first session in September.

The next session, which will be the fourth mediation meeting, is scheduled for Tuesday.

In the meantime, the sides have formed subcommittees to meet outside of mediation to move the process along, Nordquist said.

This is in stark contrast with the atmosphere five months ago — when teachers aimed to make a non-verbal statement to the board about their contracts, by working the exact hours required by the contracts.

In October, Sandberg told The Journal, “It’s been tough negotiations so far.”

Now, the two sides hope to make progress by “not digging our heels into the ground,” Nordquist said.

“We’re agreeable to meeting with each other without the mediator,” he said. “We’re not taking a stubborn stance. We’re going to resolve what we can.”

Mediation process

According to the mediation bureau’s website, “mediation usually starts when negotiations between the parties become non-productive or cease altogether.”

Eight months into mediation without an agreement is not unusual, since the groups have only had three mediation sessions, said Jan Johnson, Bureau of Mediation services labor mediations manager.

“Sometimes, things can be settled after one session, and sometimes it can take 14 or 15 sessions,” Johnson said. “We (the bureau staff) have seen cases that take 31 meetings before reaching a settlement.”

The bureau encourages the groups to meet outside of mediation sessions, as often as possible, like the Falls district has recently begun doing, Johnson said.

The time it takes for mediation to resolve the disputes depends on which issues are on the bargaining table, how many items need discussion, and how far apart the parties are in terms of agreement on issues, she explained. The ability of the mediator to help the groups make progress is also a factor, she said.

Babaya, the mediator, has a background in labor relations, like all the bureau’s mediators, Johnson said.

 Mediation sessions typically start with both groups in the same room at the first meeting. From then on, the mediator splits the parties into two rooms, and goes back and forth between rooms with proposals.

“This can go on for hours,” Johnson explained. “I’ve had mediation sessions that go on for 24 hours straight.”

It helps when parties go in with a mind set of “being prepared to settle,” she said.

“How long it takes depends on the mood of the session — how far people are willing to move,” Johnson said. “If it’s going well, and people are getting angry, then we call it a day because it’s just going to deteriorate further. If it’s going well, we keep it going, because we don’t want to lose the momentum.”

There is no cost to the groups for mediation services — the services are state funded. If the parties cannot reach an agreement, the next step in the process is arbitration. Johnson said filing for arbitration is rare and expensive.

Both the union and the district would split the cost of arbitration services, which currently comes with an average price tag of $1,000 per day, according to Johnson. That’s not including the cost of the arbitrator’s travel, lodging, meals, research time, secretarial services, and any other expenses.

“I’ve been here 36 years, and I can count on the fingers of both hands how many cases have gone to arbitration,” she said. “I would be very surprised if that happened. That’s way down the road; and it’s very costly.”

Because teachers are considered “non-essential” state employees under state statute, both sides would have to agree to enter into arbitration.

The arbitrator would then be selected from a random, computer-generated list from the bureau.  Out of about 60 arbitrators, seven names are provided to the parties, and after a roll of dice on which side picks first, the sides take turns eliminating names from the list until one is left.

Mediation sessions are closed to the public under state law, but arbitration sessions are open.

“The arbitrator would make the final decision, and whatever the arbitrator rules is what goes,”  Johnson said. “So it’s kind of like a crap shoot, because you’re letting a third party decide your fate, and you have no idea how it will turn out.”

Bargaining items

In the past, a statewide Jan. 15 deadline to settle contracts held the groups accountable to an agreement, or the district would be fined. Teachers are currently working under contracts from 2009.

“The big hang-up is we want a seven-period day at the high school, and flexible scheduling (in the contracts) just in case that doesn’t work,” Nordquist said. “They (the teachers) want more money and Q-Comp (Quality Compensation for teachers based on performance). We’re trying to reach a compromise.”

The high school currently runs on a six-period schedule, and Nordquist said seven periods would give students more educational opportunities and allow them to more easily take elective classes such as music, art, technology or a second language.

“The teachers’ negotiators want what’s best for their group, that’s their job. I do respect what they’re after,” Nordquist said. “What we’re after is giving our kids the best educational opportunities at the high school with flexible scheduling.”

Sandberg, the teachers’ union president, said the union declines to comment on the items, citing a request from the mediator to not discuss the negotiations with the media.

“We’re at a point where we feel we cannot make a statement about items on the table, items off the table, or items not even on the table,” Sandberg told The Journal.

The recent discovery of a projected district budget deficit for next school year requiring layoffs and program cuts approved Monday, has helped put things in perspective for both sides, Nordquist said.

“One thing that the union, and other people, including some school board members, did not realize is the financial situation of the district,” he said, adding that the district’s business manager, Stacy Frederickson, helped dispel “the idea that we do have a lot of money” during her recent presentation about next school year’s projected budget.

“Now they know there isn’t this pot of gold around,” Nordquist said. “We’re going to try to do what’s best, but we have to stay within our means.”

Peura said there are three items on the table that are in general agreement between both sides: extracurricular staff will be paid in two parts instead of waiting until the end of the season or club; personnel cannot take the first or last day of school off without board approval; and a renumbering of the salary schedule. First-year teacher salary is currently paid on the schedule of a teacher with 3 years of experience, at $35,580 annually. The proposal involves numbering that as the standard for the first year, and not calling it a third-year salary. In previous negotiations, salaries for years one and two were removed from the salary steps, and “their reasoning was they felt the beginning salary was not enough to attract people to the job,” Peura said.

“Nothing is agreed to until everyone signs on the dotted line,” Peura said. “We’ve talked about a lot of things at the negotiating table to try to come to an agreement, but there’s still a possibility that could all change. Anything can be brought back to the table; anything can happen.”

Paraprofessional contracts

The district’s paraprofessional union and district officials have not filed for mediation, but the contracts are still unsettled.

“We made an offer, and they rejected it,” Peura said.

The disagreement stems from language in the contract that details how support staff are assigned. Currently, a position posting meeting happens at the beginning of the school year, at which paraprofessionals choose the job or classroom they would like to take. This is done in order of seniority.

“The board would like to have right of assignment,” Peura said. “We’d like the ability to put people in jobs they are best suited for.”

The paraprofessional union, Educational Support Professionals Local 4798, met with the board negotiating committee most recently on Thursday.

Any agreements from meetings are then taken to the union members, who are given up to one week to think about the items before taking a group vote.