Union Urges its Members to Boycott Tonight’s Meeting

BREA President, Steve Beatty, on behalf of the Executive Committee of the Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association has requested his membership to boycott this evening’s 7:00 PM school budget meeting of the Bridgewater Township and Raritan Borough Councils at Bridgewater’s Municipal Complex.

It appears to be a reversal of strategy, as other such meetings have been populated wall-to-wall with association members. This does not necessarily portend a meeting room devoid of people coming to the mike to express their views. A petition of undisclosed origin has been selectively targeted asking that the municipal councils make little or no further cuts. It could be presented to the councils this evening unless there has been a change of plans.

BREA leadership has also informed its members that it has “received reliable information that . . . the town councils will announce a cut to the school’s budget this week in excess of $2.4 million, perhaps even over $3 million.” That claim has not been confirmed with either municipal council as of this writing – we will find out tonight.

Strategic Blunder, or Intentional Strategy?

The decision by the leadership of the Bridgewater-Raritan Education association not to bring the question of a voluntary wage freeze before its rank and file for a decisive vote may turn out to have been a strategic blunder that could lead to further unpleasant cuts in the school budget.

Every citizen and voter in Bridgewater and Raritan has a right to know precisely where teachers stand on this issue. The budget has failed and must be reviewed by the councils of both municipalities. The total value of all salary increases built into the B-R school budget is $2.7 million. That includes not only the teachers, but the principals, the supervisors, non-bargaining personnel and other employees. The BREA portion is easily the biggest part of that number.

If the rank and file consents to freezing its 4.35% salary increase scheduled to go into effect July 1, 2010, there is no need for further cuts in programs, more layoffs and the angst of parents that their kids’ education will suffer as a result.

However, should the rank and file reject a salary-freeze vote put before it, then there is no longer any lingering doubt about its stance. And, should BREA leadership continue to stonewall placing this issue before its membership for a full rank and file vote, it then becomes responsible for the outcome of further program reductions and layoffs.

Left out of this discussion so far is the role of the principals and supervisors who also have not volunteered to freeze their salaries for the next school year. Is there any need to emphasize that these two groups are part of the leadership team and should take the lead on this issue?

KEY UPDATE: This morning at 9 AM, the Raritan Borough Council met in an emergency public meeting to accept recommendations about where school budget cuts might be made. The audience of at least 50 people was made up mostly of BREA members, with only several people from the general public on hand to express their views.

Raritan Borough Mayor Jo-Ann Liptak who presided over the meeting mentioned that representative(s) from the Borough would meet Monday morning, April 26, with representative(s) of Bridgewater Township for discussions. She added that BREA President Steve Beatty would also be in attendance, and well as a representative(s) of the B-R School District administration. The meeting is not open to the public.

Correction:  The third paragraph in this post originally showed the salary increase for the BREA as of July 1st at 4.2%.  The correct number is 4.35%.