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August 13, 2009

Judge temporarily suspends NWA talks

By Mark Guydish mguydish@timesleader.com
Education Reporter
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WILKES-BARRE – Court-mandated Northwest Area teacher contract talks, which hadn’t been progressing much despite six-day-a-week meetings, were temporarily suspended this week by Luzerne County Judge Thomas Burke.

Union lead negotiator Matt Gruenloh said the talks were stopped after school board member Charles Brace missed sessions Friday and Saturday.

Gruenloh said talks are set to resume this Saturday at the same pace as previously ordered by Burke: six hours a day, six days a week until a settlement is reached. But there has been scant progress in a labor dispute that stretches back to August 2005, when the last contract expired.

Burke got involved when the union announced plans to strike June 22. The state Department of Education ruled that even a one-day strike would prevent students from completing 180 days of school by June 30 as required by law, and sought an injunction barring the strike.

Burke granted the injunction on June 19, but announced that the two sides had agreed to court-mandated negotiations during a pre-hearing conference. The initial schedule called for at least eight meetings every 14 days, lasting at least three hours.

The two sides announced a tentative agreement June 30 that the union members voted to accept, but the board rejected it at a meeting July 22. Burke then ordered the more rigorous schedule now in play.

Gruenloh said Burke initially ordered at least 75 percent of each negotiating team attend the new six-day-a-week sessions, but upped it to 100 percent last week, though individuals are allowed to miss a session if they have a good reason. When Brace missed the Friday and Saturday sessions, Burke ordered a break until this Saturday.

Gruenloh speculated that Burke may have felt the two sides could benefit from the time off.

Gruenloh said the chief sticking point continues to be retroactive pay raises.

The union contends that, because both sides agreed to retroactivity in the tentative agreement, it must be part of a new agreement, and the issue is working out a way to pay for it. The board has argued it simply can’t afford the retroactive raises.

Brace did not return a call for comment. He has noted in the past that his work schedule can make it difficult to arrange meetings at times.

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