Union Membership Votes to Ratify Labor Contract.

A bright autumn scene in my backyard this afternoon
may herald a deal this evening at the JFK Primary
School.  (Bergeron Image.)
 

In a conversation with Mr. Steve Beatty, President of the Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association shortly before 2:30 pm this afternoon, he advised me that the membership of the Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association was in the process of voting to ratify its Memorandum of Understanding with the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education.
 
Beatty further confirmed that the particulars of the proposed agreement currently before the BREA membership for acceptance are the same as those revealed to the public on this web site on Friday, October 12, in specific detail.
 
In support of that assessment, Beatty confirmed that all salary guides are now adjusted and that all contract language is in place, assuming their acceptance by the union membership.

 He said that “Although the voting is still in progress and that the results are still coming in,” he hopes to be able to present the results of today’s polling to the Bridgewater- Raritan Board of Education by tonight's meeting at 8:00 PM, at the John F. Kennedy Primary School in Raritan Borough.
 
A key provision of the agreement calls for:  “a one-year contract covering July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012 with a 0% increase and no change in language,”  and “A three-year contract covering July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2015 with increases of 2.9%, 2.9% and 2.9% and language changes and additions.”
 
Asked how he felt, Beatty said that he is “really happy that it’s over.”
 
Following our conversation, I contacted Mr. Evan Lerner, President of the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education who was quite pleased to hear that the union may have a firm deal to present to the board of education this evening.
 
“I’m hopeful that they come and tell us that they have ratified the whole deal,” he said, adding that he “wanted to hear this 18 months ago.”
 
We discussed tonight’s agenda for the BR-BOE meeting at the JFK School in Raritan Borough.  I pointed out that it calls for only one topic to be reviewed behind closed doors in executive session e.g., “Personnel-Employee Discipline.”
 
Since topics for discussion at a board meeting are generally required to be specified on the agenda under a 48-hour notice to the public before the meeting, I asked about how the union’s ratification would be handled since, presumably, the board and administration had no foreknowledge of today’s events.
 
The board’s web site states in a dialog box that “The meeting will re-open to the public at 8:00 p.m. with no Board action being taken prior to that time.”
 
Asked whether the board would be presented with and briefed upon the results of today’s ratification vote only in the public portion session of tonight’s meeting, Mr. Lerner indicated that he “was not anticipating talking about this in executive session.”
 
If all goes well, a long-awaited agreement may be finalized this evening.
 
(Click on theimage for an enhanced view.)