Our bargaining team met with the CMO Tuesday afternoon to continue discussions about salary increases.
Our team emphasized with the CMO the frustration members have felt throughout the bargaining process, noting that their initial offer that would have seen half our members receive just a 1-percent raise for 2023-24 sowed the seeds for a widespread feeling that there is no recourse but to take action through a strike. We expressed how teachers need to feel valued, and that while we can get creative on how we get there, there needs to be an investment in retaining staff even if doing so pushes the comfort level of CMO staff. Our proposal reflects this by continuing to push for an 8-percent pay raise over a two-year agreement. This would be structured as 6-percent retroactive to the start of this school year and an additional 2-percent next year. This compromise proposal would allow our educators to make up ground with surrounding districts in the long-term while saving the CMO the equivalent cost of 1-percent by reducing the amount of backpay that would be provided in the short-term. HTEC Last Proposal
CMO Last Proposal
The CMO expressed discomfort with being able to guarantee 2-percent for next year, given that the state provided cost of living adjustment is projected to be 0.76-percent. Unfortunately the CMO was not able to put together a counteroffer they believed our membership would accept within the three hours that had been scheduled for the bargaining session. Next Steps Our next bargaining session is scheduled for February 5, and the ball is in the CMO’s court. It is important that we not only show up to the January 31 board meeting but speak to the critical need for the CMO’s bargaining team to accept our proposal. We want all our great teachers to remain at HTH, but we can’t without the CMO investing in us. In Solidarity, The HTEC Certificated Bargaining Team Hayden Gore, HTM Chula Vista Grady Gumner, HTe Mesa Charley Jacob, HTH North County Jennifer Merrill, HTe Point Loma Chris Mutter, HTH International Chris Olivas, HTM North County Rose Reiken, HTM Mesa Mary Williams, HTM Point Loma On Thursday, January 18 our bargaining team met with the CMO to continue bargaining our first contract.
We once again hoped to present a counterproposal to the CMO’s last wage proposal, but were unable to do so as CMO hasn’t provided updated budget data that has been requested. Our bargaining presented three proposals covering key issues for our members. Our proposals were: Employment Status and Discipline (packaged as one proposal) Since the right to due process prior to being fired is a fundamental part of discipline, we decided to package our employment status and discipline proposals together, so that they can only be accepted or rejected together. The employment status component is identical to our proposal from August 31, with a 120 day introductory period prior to receiving due process rights for discipline or dismissal. The discipline component accepts most of what the CMO previously proposed. Changes to their proposal are largely to clarify intent of the article and to protect and clarify rights that members have when it comes to discipline and derogatory materials placed in personnel files. Leaves Our leaves proposal accepts the CMO’s previous proposal to maintain the status quo for who is eligible to earn paid vacation to only hourly employees working a 12-month calendar. However, we did propose that these members earn at least two weeks of vacation time starting with their first full year of employment. Members would earn 13 days per year after completing three full school years, and 17 vacation days after completing five full school years. The CMO’s proposal is 5 days for the first two years, 10 days for years three and four, and 15 days starting with year five. In exchange we proposed that all unit members be allowed to use up to three days of sick leave every year for personal business at their discretion. This would allow members to address personal business during regular work hours throughout the year rather than holding off until school break periods. We also again reiterated our demand for classified employees to earn the same sick leave rights as teachers, with 1 hour of sick leave earned for every 19 hours worked (up to 10 days per year) without them expiring. We believe this is fair and inline with industry standards for school employees. ______________________________________________ The CMO provided a counter proposal for Collective Rights. This section of the contract provides details on how the CMO will comply with state laws that give union members the ability to communicate about union business. Our proposal last month was nearly identical to that in the teachers’ contract, with only minor updates to cover the difference between teachers and support staff. The CMO’s proposal makes additional changes they believe better reflect the differences between teachers and support staff. Our next bargaining session is scheduled for February 15. In Solidarity, HTEC Classified Bargaining Committee Socorro Castaneda, Custodian (Point Loma) Roman Cardenas, Academic Coach (HTHCV) Jocelyn Flores, Village Program Manager (HTHNC) Maricela Ginori, Custodian (Point Loma) Daniel Ortiz, Maintenance Technician (Mesa) Joanna Sandoval, Academic Coach (HTHCV) Our bargaining team met with the CMO Thursday morning to continue discussions about salary increases. We again made significant progress towards reaching a tentative agreement that our bargaining team feels comfortable sending to members for ratification; however, we were unable to reach agreement within the time scheduled for the meeting. The CMO started the day by again proposing that this year’s raise be split into two components, with teachers on Steps 1-5 and 21-29 receiving a 4-percent raise and teachers on Steps 6-20 receiving a 5-percent raise. All school psychologists and speech language pathologists would receive 4-percent. They recognized that due to the duration of this year’s reopener bargain, we will soon start bargaining for next year's raise and included in their proposal a 1-percent raise for all members in 2024-25. As we did at our December bargaining session, our team stressed our members’ priority for an equal across-the-board raise for all steps on the salary schedule. While we appreciate the CMO formally recognizing that the structure of our pay scale results in teachers in the middle falling well behind our colleagues at other schools, we believe that rectifying this requires a complete overhaul of the payscale that cannot be done at this point in time. We did recognize that it is in everyone’s best interest to resolve next year’s raise earlier, rather than immediately starting another contentious round of bargaining in May of this year. The CMO’s proposal for 2024-25 surpasses next year’s projected state funding cost of living adjustment. On Wednesday, Governor Newsom announced a proposed budget that uses state rainy day funds to fully pay for a 0.76-percent COLA. The CMO also stated that they appreciated our attempt to creatively structure this year’s raise by only having a portion of it qualify for full back pay to the start of the school year. However, they said that their current payroll software would require them to manually enter multiple changes for each individual employee, which would be challenging for their payroll staff to implement. Our bargaining team caucused before presenting a counter offer that continues to push for our goal of putting 8-percent onto the pay scale. To do this we proposed that 7-percent be retroactive to the start of the 2023-24 school year while accepting the school’s proposal for 1-percent for the 2024-25 school year. We believe this offer surpasses our goal for this year’s salary bargain when total compensation is taken into account. The CMO previously agreed to cover the full cost of health care increases for this year, which prevented members from having more money deducted from their paychecks to cover monthly healthcare premiums. The total cost of this change is equivalent to approximately 1.6-percent in member salary. When added together, our salary proposal, plus the increase in benefit coverage, results in a 9.7-percent increase in total unit member compensation over a two-year period, while the state funded COLA for this period is projected at 8.98-percent (8.22-percent for 2023-24 and 0.76-percent for 2024-25). The CMO quickly prepared a counter offer based on this structure, with all members receiving a 5-percent raise for this year and a 1-percent raise for next year. Our scheduled time ended before we could provide a formal response to their proposal. While we are still separated by 2-percent for this year, we believe we are finally on a pathway to a potential settlement, as both bargaining teams are discussing proposals under the same structure and framework. This progress is directly related to the pressure and accountability HTEC membership has put on the CMO. Our next bargaining session is scheduled for January 23, and Site Reps will be in contact with members about how we can continue to apply pressure to the CMO, if we are unable to reach a full agreement on the 23rd. The HTEC Certificated Bargaining Team Hayden Gore, HTM Chula Vista Grady Gumner, HTe Mesa Charley Jacob, HTH North County Jennifer Merrill, HTe Point Loma Chris Mutter, HTH International Chris Olivas, HTM North County Mary Williams, HTM Point Loma On Thursday December 14 our classified bargaining team met with the CMO to continue bargaining our first contract.
While we had hoped to present a counterproposal to the CMO’s last wage proposal, we were unable to do so as we’re still waiting to receive updated budget data from the school. Instead, our bargaining team presented five proposals on other topics. The CMO did not provide any proposals as it was our turn to provide counter proposals on all topics. Our proposals were: Benefits Our benefits proposal is simple. Classified employees should receive the same level of benefits as our certificated colleagues. The CMO’s last proposal would only provide benefits for classified members who work at least 30 hours a week. Our proposal would provide benefits to anyone working at least 20 hours a week – the same as what teachers receive. Hours If accepted by the CMO, this proposal would require that the CMO clearly outline a member’s work year and work day. It would guarantee that overtime is voluntary and assigned in an equitable manner. Breaks and lunch periods would clearly be defined and guaranteed to any unit member working at least 6 hours a day. It would also protect members from arbitrary changes to their work hours, and establish that the CMO can’t mandate a change in work hours without two weeks’ notice. This ensures that members have time to adjust childcare or hours for a second job if there’s a need to change their schedule. Evaluations We believe that staff evaluations should be based on a coaching and support model. That’s why we proposed that supervisors who believe an employee needs improvement should provide them with a growth and improvement plan that provides support and coaching. It’s also important for members to receive regular training that allows them to excel in their support of students and staff. On top of that, members who provide direct instructional support to students should also be provided training in conjunction with teachers. We all work best when we’re on the same page! Assignments and Transfers Our proposal would give current members an opportunity to apply for vacant positions at HTH schools besides their own. It would also provide reasonable protections from the school moving members from one school to another. Collective Rights This section of the contract provides details on how the CMO will comply with state laws that give union members the ability to communicate about union business. The proposal is nearly identical to that in the teachers’ contract, with only minor updates to cover the difference between teachers and support staff. ______________________________________________ We also scheduled two more bargaining sessions for January 18 and February 15 and look forward to making more progress at those meetings. In Solidarity, HTEC Classified Bargaining Committee Socorro Castaneda, Custodian (Point Loma) Roman Cardenas, Academic Coach (HTHCV) Jocelyn Flores, Village Program Manager (HTHNC) Maricela Ginori, Custodian (Point Loma) Daniel Ortiz, Maintenance Technician (Mesa) Joanna Sandoval, Academic Coach (HTHCV) |
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