There was a reprieve of sorts just two days ago when this release came out:Capistrano Teachers Issue Bargaining Proposal Designed to Prevent Strike Challenge Capistrano School Board to back up words with action.
The battle between the Board of Trustees and the Teachers has been rather simple. Cuts need to be made and the teachers all along have been willing to take those cuts in pay and benefits but what they will not do is take them permanently nor give up their bargaining rights.
And what they want is the BOT to sit down with them behind closed doors and bargain at a table as two interested parties should not via warring press releases or even worse, as the board has done, one press release for the public and one letter for the CUEA, the union representing the CUSD Teachers.
So here we are, it was a tense day yesterday as many waited to hear what the board would do as teachers offered their olive branch, a chance to bargain.
ALISO VIEJO – Challenging the Capistrano Unified School District Board of Education to back up vague offers to “entertain discussion” related to bargaining, the 2,200 members of the Capistrano Unified Education Association invite the board back to the bargaining table to negotiate, based upon the following proposals:The board will reverse the permanent nature of salary and benefits cuts they imposed March 31 by making them temporary; There will be no increase in class size; The board will restore salary, unpaid work days, and benefits cuts if unforeseen funds are received; The board will implement already agreed to contract language that deals with working conditions, transfer of teachers, and leaves as stipulated to in the fact finding hearing. “It has never been the goal of Capistrano teachers to strike,” said CUEA President Vicki Soderberg. “We have always been willing to bargain in good faith, and we immediately accepted the neutral fact finder’s settlement recommendation. Although the CUSD school board’s unilateral imposition forced us into voting a strike authorization, we much prefer to settle our differences through bargaining.”
“In recent media reports and direct communications to teachers, the CUSD Board of Education has implied that they are willing to bargain with the teachers, but the board has yet to make a formal, direct proposal to CUEA. We want our members, our students, the public, and the board to be perfectly clear that we do not want to strike and that we want to reach a negotiated settlement. We challenge the board to live up to their recent statements and accept our proposal for an agreement,” said Soderberg
All the teachers want is to negotiate the points stipulated in this proposal, all very important points and all supported by the independent mediator appointed by the State to attempt to come to some sort of agreement.
The Board of Trustees had until 5 pm yesterday to answer the CUEA’s proposal and waited until the last possible moment to do so and did in such a way that was hostile and rather patronizing. The letter to the teachers did not come from the BOT but from their Lawyers.
The money quote from the letter is this, “Pre-conditioning a return to the bargaining table upon the acceptance of a negotiation proposal backed up by a threat of a strike constitutes, among other things, an unfair labor practice.”
Of course this BOT doesn’t understand fair labor practices and that to threaten to strike is one of the only true bargaining tools the teachers have in their arsenal. It’s legal and completely fair. And the last thing teachers want to do is strike.
This is what we all must understand as parents, that the teachers do not want to strike. This is not an easy choice for them and it is not one that they make lightly.
ALISO VIEJO – “If you’re really serious about bargaining, you don’t start out by threatening legal action. Once again the Capistrano Board of Education is attempting to equivocate and obfuscate instead of negotiate,” said CUEA President Vicki Soderberg.
“Despite the board’s vague offer to commence negotiations ‘regarding various issues,’ they are flatly rejecting to bargain CUEA’s specific, unambiguous proposal. We clearly gave them a chance to avert
a strike and their refusal leaves teachers no choice. CUEA members will walk the picket lines beginning, Thursday, April 22. At the same time, our bargaining team will accept the board’s invitation to talk on Thursday. If we determine that they are serious about reaching a settlement, teachers and students can be back in the schools Friday. It’s up to the board to prove they’re serious about reaching a settlement.”In a formal request delivered early Monday, April 19, giving the Capistrano board a 5:00 p.m., Tuesday, April 20 deadline to respond, CUEA asked the board to come back to the bargaining table to negotiate based on the following specific proposals:
1. The board will reverse the permanent nature of salary and benefits cuts they imposed March 31 by making them temporary;
2. There will be no increase in class size;
3. The board will restore salary, unpaid work days, and benefits cuts if 4. unforeseen funds are received;
The board will implement already agreed to contract language that deals with working conditions, transfer of teachers, and leaves as stipulated to in the fact finding hearing.“Where in the board’s response is the mention of making the permanent cuts temporary and of being willing to enter into the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) the board has informally offered in public throughout the last two weeks? Where is a clear, unambiguous offer to restore the cuts if unforeseen funds become available? The teachers’ proposal was explicit. Given the board’s history of duplicitous behavior, they have to make unequivocally clear that they want to reach a settlement. Teachers are far beyond ‘sham bargaining’ cloaked in vague, confusing, and ambiguous promises,” said Soderberg.
“The board’s rejection of our clear proposal and their continued ambiguity has put us where we never wanted to be. It is unfortunate that the board wants chaos instead of clear communication. It has never been the teachers’ goal to strike, but if it takes walking the picket line to bring the board to a place of clarity and mutual respect, then teachers have no choice. We must stand firm for our profession, for our students, and for the long-term stability of the district.”
So now what?
If we want this strike to be short we must support teachers in the next few days and we must be clear that the Board of Trustees should accept the four simple requests outlined above.
The more students that are kept home, the more parents that stand side by side with teachers and the more parents that call and email the BOT about this, the more likely it is that this will end quickly.
Here is what you can do…
And this is the most important thing to remember, teachers would rather be teaching than striking.
There is a lot at stake here, now that the teachers are striking, people press outside of the County are paying attention, the LA Times have written a piece about this issue. Lets show them that parents support teachers, that we support public education and that we believe Capistrano Unified School District to be one of the best districts in California despite it’s size and that it deserves to retain the amazing teacher it has. The LA Times gets it right the first time unlike the OC Register which has failed to get the issue at hand correct the many times it has written about this ongoing negotations.
The teachers’ union has said it will accept the pay cuts only if the district agrees to make them temporary, according to Vicki Soderberg, president the Capistrano Unified Education Assn.
Soderberg said teachers also want the district to promise it will funnel to teachers’ salaries any unforeseen state or federal funding that may come in. The union, a local chapter of the California Teachers Association, voted to call the strike last week, Soderberg said.
“Teachers don’t want to strike,” she said. “But they’re being forced to do so.”
It’s the shock doctrine, our education is the next in line to go, privatize education. Just last week our local paper printed the list of teachers to be laid off in the County, More teachers on layoff list. Can you imagine how depressing this is for parents and their children? How does this help our State? How does this help our Economy to continue to lay people off and increase class sizes when education is one of the most important things we can fund right now?
Orange County school districts have started releasing the names of teachers and other staff who were issued layoff warnings on March 15 or told their temporary contracts won’t be renewed.
Click here to see our database of the staff members who have been warned.
In all, 2,586 educators have been given pink slips, though districts acknowledged that the figure is likely greater than those who will receive final notices May 15.