Will Collegiality Win the Day?

At a meeting of the Raritan Borough Council at which Mayor Jo-Ann Liptak presided on Saturday morning, April 24th, borough officials stated that they were looking at a potential $2.4 million additional reduction to the failed Bridgewater-Raritan school budget, an amount which according to statements made that day could be covered by a union wage freeze.

Officials at the meeting further explained that the impact of such a freeze to the current combined tax levy of Bridgewater and Raritan would be to drop it from 4.95% to 2.83%, a 43% improvement. The actual breakdown for each municipality results in separate levies, each of which is determined by formula.

Yesterday, representatives of each municipality, the board of education, the three school unions, and administrator(s) met in a preliminary closed-door meeting.

Although no communiqués have yet come from that gathering, it’s safe to assume from discussions at Saturday’s Raritan Borough meeting that the key topic would be the question of a wage freeze for the three major bargaining units, the BRPA, the BRSA, and the BREA, unions representing the principals; the supervisors; the teachers, secretaries, and others, respectively. (The Superintendent and non-bargaining personnel have already consented to a one-year wage freeze.)

Further buttressing the assumption that the main topic on the table is a one-year freeze of salaries was the conference call last Friday by Education Commissioner Bret Schundler with municipal and school officials, as reported in The Star-Ledger. Schundler is encouraging “government officials, who will determine local tax levies after reviewing the defeated spending plans to reach out to union leadership during the process.”

Schundler claimed that “There are times when a third party, such as a town council, can help two parties look at another side.” He added, “In a negotiation between a union and a school board, they (municipal officials) are the counter-parties to the discussion.”

Thus, there is no reason to doubt that the critical topic at the moment is whether or not union members will get to vote on a voluntary wage freeze.

Saturday morning at the Raritan Borough Municipal Building, the requests from the audience – virtually all teachers – to Borough officials seemed to be unanimous in not wanting any further cuts to programs or personnel. The exchange was quite informal. It lasted for two and a half hours. At times, there were very personal and emotional pleas made from concerned teachers and other union members. (The BREA has already agreed to $1.4 million in concessions in exchange for a similar amount of reduced cutbacks – a net wash in the budget.)

What would you do if you were a teacher or other union member and knew that taking a full 4.35% wage freeze with no other conditions attached would save programs and the jobs of your colleagues? Would you claim your personal seniority and watch the pink slips go out, or would you take that one-year hit?

The answer is not easy – not if you are the one making the decision. I’m convinced that most people in Bridgewater and Raritan recognize this. They, too, have suffered the pain of absorbing hard economic hits.

We are all waiting for the answer. Will collegiality win the Day?

Photo Commentary:  In the picture above, Raritan Borough Mayor Jo-Ann Liptak and the Borough Council take comments from the audience about the failed Bridgewater-Raritan school budget at the April 24th emergency meeting in the Raritan Municipal Building. (Single-click the image for a larger view)