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By MELANIE HUGHES; Times Leader Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 27, 1996 Page: 2A
PITTSTON — The Pittston Area School District, slapped with an unfair labor
practice complaint and the threat of a teachers strike, has called for another
day of teacher negotiations.
The session, scheduled for Sept. 5, is possibly a last-ditch effort on the
part of the school district and the Pennsylvania Federation of Teachers to
reach a contract agreement and avert a strike.
Without a contract, teachers are prepared to walk. They voted in favor of a
strike earlier this month, said Bernard Murray, assistant to the president of
the Pennsylvania Federation of Teachers. Before a strike could be implemented,
approval would have to come from the union’s executive board, and a
state-mandated two-day notice would have to given to the district.
Unless that happens, the district’s 163 teachers are expected to start
school Sept. 3, Murray said.
“There is another negotiating session but I don’t know what it’s about,”
said Murray. “They might have something new to offer.”
Not so, said Superintendent Frank Serino. “I think it’s a continuation of
what we’ve been doing all along. It’s a matter of discussing what’s already on
the table.”
Murray said the federation is continuing with its plan to strike by setting
up interest-free loans for teachers to assist them in the absence of a
paycheck.
Serino said the district is also looking at a contingency plan in case of a
strike.
“We’re expecting school to start, so there is no elaborate plan at this
point,” said Serino. “But we are looking at transportation of parochial school
students. The biggest thing we have to do is keep people informed.”
Pittston Area teachers have been without a contract since June 30, 1995.
The board wants a four-year contract that includes a pay freeze for the
1996-97 school year, followed by a 1 percent increase in the second year and a
2 percent increase in the final two years.
An arbitration panel recommended an increase in teachers’ salaries by 12
percent during the next four years. The board rejected the recommendation July
1.
“It looks bad at this point,” Murray said. “They escalated their demands.
It seems like they don’t want to settle this.”
The union filed an unfair labor complaint Aug. 14, charging the district
with negotiating in bad faith. The state Labor Relations Board has not yet
decided whether a hearing will be granted.
The last teacher strike in the district was in 1972. It lasted four days.