Parties Negotiating Bridgewater-Raritan Schools Labor Contract Remain Apart

On Thursday evening, March 15, negotiators for the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education and their counterparts for the Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association met at a mediation session held at the Wade Administration Building in Martinsville. 

Mr. Dave Doheny, a member of the teachers' union
 negotiating team is shown taking notes at the Board of
Education meeting on February 29, 2012.  (Bergeron Image)

They had hoped to make progress in their ongoing labor contract negotiations – but, to no avail.

Reached early Friday morning, Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education President Evan Lerner was succinct in his comments:  “The news is that we did not reach a settlement last night.  We (the B-R BOE) need to regroup and figure out what the next step is, and what comment is appropriate” to provide for the public.

Mr. Lerner was reluctant to disclose any specifics of that meeting.  It was still early in the morning when I contacted him, and members of the board had yet to be briefed.

School Officials and Union Continue to Negotiate

Tonight, at the Wade Administration Building, two negotiation teams, one for the Bridgewater-Raritan School District, and the other for the Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association, will meet again.  They will continue to discuss their positions and offers at an official mediation session. 

Burning the midnight oil at the Wade Administration Building

Previously, according to Board President Evan Lerner, the teams had met on February 29, 2012 to swap views informally.

In a brief talk with me this afternoon Mr. Lerner acknowledged that the key topics center on the provider of the union’s health care plan; teacher work rules; and salary.

In a prior interview with Lerner on February 6th, he had been hopeful that a consensus might have been reached on a potential savings of $80,000 per month in health care premiums to the current 2011/2012 school budget ending June 30^th, but that did not happen.

Also on the negotiating table are the length of the teacher work day, and the salary issue.