The President of the Bridgewater Township Council, Matthew Moench, was advised on Friday that the three major bargaining units for the Bridgewater-Raritan School District have rejected the two municipalities’ request to accept a voluntary wage freeze amounting to $2.4 million for the 2010/2011 school year.
Mr. Moench expressed disappointment that the only “the only solution offered was $1 million from budget salary ‘breakage.’” This is a rather arcane term that represents the differential between the higher salary of retiring staff and the lower salary of new staff.
The higher salaries of long-term employees are always built into the budget at the outset, because there is no way of knowing in advance how many experienced, higher salaried personnel will retire. It’s important to note that, according to Moench, “school administration says that there is now $500,000” worth of known ‘breakage,’” half the number claimed by the BREA.
“There was not any plausible solution offered,” Moench said and, “essentially, we were told, ‘we are not helping; good luck,’” He added that “They (the union representatives) don’t think we will cut $2.4 million or more . . . they really are misreading the public. If the $2.4 million salary freeze had been proffered, we would have accepted it. At first, some council members thought that was too low. Now, it could be a larger number.”
“We asked for a wage freeze in the hope that they would have cooperated. Union representatives put themselves ahead of their fellow colleagues and kids. They had a chance to practice what they preach, and they didn’t do it.”
Steve Beatty, speaking for the Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association of which he is President, as well as for the other two administrators’ unions representing the Principals and the Supervisors, offered another view.
Mr. Beatty rebutted by claiming that, in combination, the three union groups have already given up a total of $2.4 million in concessions, although not as a wage freeze he admits. He arrived at that number by stating that the $1.6 million in forfeited education reimbursement expenses and in the 1.5% of salary volunteered as a health care contribution, when combined with $0.8 million in ‘breakage’ already equals $2.4 million.
“What difference does it make where the money is coming from?” he asked.
Beatty continued, “We are not trying to be greedy. We are looking at the long and short term. What is being asked of us is political.”
When asked why each of the three bargaining units did not take the municipal councils’ request for a $2.4 million wage freeze to their rank and file for an up or down vote, he responded, “We truly believe that the executive committee(s) has a handle on how members feel. We talked to people and teachers and we listened.”
Beatty also volunteered that originally, the BREA did not want to accept any cuts in advance of the budget vote at the April 20th election. “We would have liked to wait until after the vote,” he said, “but we were prodded, pushed and bullied” into concessions before the April 20th election.
Also asked how he thinks the public will feel after this, he said “I’m pretty sure it will be bad and we will have some angry people; we will also have some on our side; it’s hard to say. My fear is that the councils have made up their mind. If we don’t agree, the councils may cut $3.5 million or more. It’s possible.”
No comments:
Post a Comment