JULY 31, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JULY 31, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Despite the start of the school year rapidly approaching, the Board of Education and Ridgewood Education Association (REA) have been unable to agree on a new contract.
The current contract, which began on July 1, 2012, expired at the end of June.
Mike Yannone, president of the REA, confirmed this week that the organization’s members are working without a new contract. The REA represents 550 teachers, secretaries and counselors in the Ridgewood school district.
“When our contract expires, we continue to work under the terms of the old contract,” Yannone said. “We will honor the contract, and the kids will be taught.”
However, the optimal result is for an agreement to be hammered out as quickly as possible.
“I would love to be able to talk to the other side,” Yannone said, adding that he understands that setting up a meeting can be difficult over the summer.
The main sticking point of the negotiations is a dispute over health insurance premium contributions.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/sides-hoping-to-iron-out-contract-1.1384018
iron out = the union asks for what it wants, the board says no, the union says we won’t write college references, the parents freak out, the board gives them want they want and the taxpayers pay the bill.
Unions are going extinct… see Michigan’s “right-to-work” law which now covers state employees because the state Civil Service Commission lacks the “constitutional authority” to compel civil service employees to pay union dues or fees…
Guess what, I haven’t gotten a raise in a few years and contribute more each year to my benefits. That’s less money in my pocket.
Why do teachers need to get a raise every year?