SEPTEMBER 25, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Tense contract negotiations between the Ridgewood Board of Education (BOE) and Ridgewood Education Association (REA) ramped up this week.
“The negotiations are not going well,” said REA President Michael Yannone in a conversation with The Ridgewood News earlier this week.
While a number of issues remain to be settled, the main two are salary requirements and healthcare benefits, which are always paired in discussions, Yannone said.
“This board doesn’t believe they should have to negotiate health benefits,” Yannone said.
Without some leeway from the BOE, no progress will be made, he added.
Yannone also spoke at this week’s BOE meeting, flanked by Ridgewood teachers in a sign of solidarity.
“The teachers of this community feel disrespected,” Yannone said at the meeting. “Ridgewood was always a school district that prided itself as being at the forefront of education. Teachers felt respected here and believed their voice had value. Those days are gone.
“Teachers now feel as if they are merely nickels and dimes — a revenue stream for this board — with money going out, and more and more employee money coming back to this board,” he said.
This drew a standing ovation from the assembled crowd of teachers, who so packed the Education Center meeting room that many had to stand.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/contract-negotiations-heating-up-1.1418121
Greedy teachers have brought this on themselves there is no one else to blame.
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I get that Chris Matthews thrill running up my leg when I hear the teachers complaining about health care contributions. Welcome to the real world!
The 2% cap is the single best thing to happen to the state in the last 10 years.
The REA isn’t negotiating in good faith, they’re just interested in gouging tax payers as much as possible. Abject greed
How does one gouge with a 2% cap in place?
5:47, they gouge by looking for more than 2%. They also want Christie’s 1.5% healthcare contribution to go away since the legislature let it sunset. Teachers were underpaid 25 years ago but not anymore.
Give them Obama care.
If they want the Cadillac plan they have, let th pay for it.
“Base pay raises next year for the rank-and-file will be 3% on average, according to a survey of 1,100 mostly large employers by professional services firm Towers Watson. Executives and managers are projected to receive about the same.” From money.cnn.com. This refers to the 3% average pay raise for this year (2015) and the projected 3% average for next year (2016).
Doesn’t apply to teachers in NJ … now or ever in the future. What happened to public workers being treated like people in private employment. In addition public workers pay a higher percentage of their health care costs than the average in the private sector.
You are a little confused if you think that teachers are looking for more than 2% AND for the healthcare payment to go away. The 2% cap covers all reimbursement, including both salary and benefits.
The problem is that the board is following NJSBA policy and refusing to negotiate with the teachers. They are relying on forums like this to further demonize teachers. Christie has been doing it for years, and his followers continue the process. If you have never read “Faces of the Enemy”, you might be enlightened by exposing yourself to it. It talks about the way it is necessary to demonize, belittle and even dehumanize your enemy to make your attacks seem justified.Teachers are not the enemy, no matter how much you try to make them so.
Teachers are acting like thugs. Let them buy their own health insurance on ACA state platform
9:4:is an REA Union thug. The 2% cap doesn’t include taxpayer burdens for 100% of annual healthcare premium increases and pension contributions. Past promises for these aren’t impacted by the cap. So stop lying. You and your goon friends aren’t negotiating in good faith, you should accept pay cuts and stop your lies.
The residents of Ridgewood have been hit in the gut under the current socialist White House regime with a 7-year economic non-recovery. The REA thinks and acts like they should be insulated from all economic maladies. Maybe they should support candidates that represent policies of growing the national economy rather than the ones they usually back who insist on penalizing the middle class. Check how terrible they are doing at https://php.app.com/edstaff/search.php
ACA exchanges are a good idea for teachers to get their own insurance… why should tax payers pay for their health insurance for life?
Health care increases and pension increases CAN be outside the 2% cap, but haven’t been so far in Ridgewood. Teachers pay up to 35% of the cost of healthcare, including any increases. Teachers’ contributions to the pension have increased each year for the last 3 or 4 years. Teachers haven’t seen more than a 2% salary increase for the last contract (4 years), and won’t for the next (3 years).
Thanks 2:53/2:57 for proving my point about making teachers the enemy. You are a perfect example of the power of negativity.
9:59, the BOE sucks 65% of every Municpal tax dollar in Ridgewood to carry a $100 million BoE budget that is out of control. The 35% number you quote on healthcare is effective since when? What percentage of your wages go to your pension? Currently LESS than 7%. The 7% amount will be phased in our years. Let’s just try to be honest, or else we need to question why we allow liars to teach our children. And Ridgewood taxpayers pay 100% of all annual increases in health insurance premiums for teachers, so please stop your deceit.
9:59 is quoting from the union hack playbook
REA President Michael Yannone is nothing more than a union goon, trying to steal even more from Ridgewood taxpayers. We’re already taxed to death for schools that no longer rank top ten in NJ. If your members are unhappy with their deal here in Ridgewood, we should use our $100mn BoE budget to hire teachers from top ten NJ school districts
Hell, they are not even in the top 20 !
15th in New Jersey
307th in the country
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/new-jersey/rankings?int=c0b4c1
$100mn annual budget for a school system ranked 15th in the state and 307th in the country? Our property taxes rank top TEN in the country, so we should have top ten schools. If we don’t, then all of our teachers and administrators are replaceable. If the REA cannot understand this, then the BoE is not doing its job effectively and Board members should resign.
Come on 6:15. You have to make your fictitious stats slightly believable. Ridgewood ranks 18th in dollar amount of property tax, and not even top 200 in tax rate, and that is just in NJ. If you realize that more than half of the schools that beat Ridgewood in the US New rankings for NJ are magnet schools, that makes Ridgewood top seven in regular public schools. Room for improvement? Sure. There is always reason to strive to be better. Close to the nonsense you have been selling. Not even close.
Bergen County property taxes aren’t top ten of any county in the US?
Bergen County had the 3rd highest median property taxes in the USA at $9,546 as of 2013. Averages property taxes in Ridgewood are now $17,000, 65% of which goes to fund our $100mn BoE budget. If that’s not gouging us, then you and your Union buddies must think we’re all a bunch of disinterested parents…. Oh, wait….