Feds Defer “Cadillac” Health Plan Penalty to 2020

BRIEF RECAP:

 

Negotiations between the BR-BOE (Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education) and the BREA (Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association) are at an impasse, pending a mediation session scheduled to take place this Wednesday, January 13. 

 

Late last year, the school board posted on its web site the terms and conditions of what was then its most current wage and benefits offer.  This information is no longer on the BR-BOE’s home page.

However, on November 11, 2015, I posted a summary of both the BR-BOE and the BREA’s negotiation positions at that time based upon the data then released by the school board:  You can review it on this previous blog post.  

As pointed out in November, the biggest sticking point between the two parties was the near-confiscatory, so-called “Cadillac” health care plan penalty, and the impact it might present as a budget-buster.

Contract Negotiations Enter into a Summer of Discontent

Tuesday night’s meeting of the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education (BR-BOE) was brief. It was not punctuated – as were so many of the others – by large, but orderly protests outside the Wade Administration Building in Martinsville, or by overflow outpourings of union membership inside the conference room. 

Bridgewater resident Mr. Benjamin Jones
addresses the BR-BOE. (Bergeron Image.)

But low union turnout is no indication of undiminished interest in the still hot issue of the simmering, unsettled contract negotiations for Bridgewater-Raritan teachers.

During the public comment segment of the BR-BOE meeting, longtime Bridgewater resident Benjamin Jones stepped up to the microphone to remind the board that the contract issue will not be forgotten during the summer. 

He stressed that “If you don’t have good morale [among the teaching staff] you are missing the boat . . . I’m asking you to please do what you can to settle the contract . . . It just doesn’t make sense when [we hear] from a governor who is demonizing teachers and [who] considers them evil.” 

Jones further indicated that “There is no reason it should have gone this long . . . there’s got to be some middle ground.”

*****

At the conclusion of the BR-BOE meeting, Mr. Steve Beatty, President of the Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association (BREA), described an overview of how the current process may roll out:

Board and Union to Push Restart Button

Howard Teichman signs in at the lectern Tuesday night, (Bergeron Image)

In a move that could resume stalled contract negotiations between the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education and the teachers’ union – the BREA – Board President Evan Lerner announced at this evening’s public meeting that both groups will meet informally next week.

Mr. Lerner’s announcement was prompted by a question from former Board Member and frequent meeting attendee, Howard Teichman, who queried Mr. Lerner to that effect during the public portion of tonight’s meeting. 

Up to this point, the Board and the union were at an impasse, after the Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association had previously asked for a mediator to be brought into the process.