Thread by @wgarrity_ma

#mapoli #maedu Big News: 4 Bargaining units of the Pittsfield Federation of School Employees will be voting to ratify new contracts this week! The 4 units are paras, secretaries, cafeteria, and bus operations! The custodial unit isn't listed on the site (1/26)

Contract negotiations between the Federation and the School Committee have been a long time coming, with a lot of negotiations spilling over into anger and public outcry by the Federation. It has been very tense for sure.

iberkshires.com/story/67923/Ad…

(2/26)

The Federation and the School Committee ended up going to mediation with the state's Department of Labor Relations, which ended back in June.

iberkshires.com/story/67823/Pi…

(3/26)

Then nothing really happened until the August school committee meeting where the school committee stated they didn't hear from the Federation on the status of contract ratification. The Federation did not comment on the situation. (4/26)

berkshireeagle.com/news/central_b…

Then there was a virtual meeting of the Negotiations Subcommittee last Tuesday where they met in executive session to discuss negotiations and to conduct bargaining with the Federation. cms2files.revize.com/pittsfieldma/c… (5/26)

And now we have this release of information on the Federation's website, including the proposed contracts (which they are allowed to release??)! Either way lets take a look! pittsfield.ma.aft.org/events/calenda…

(6/26)

Each unit has 2 different contracts, one for FY22 and another for FY23 to FY25 (we are currently in FY23). (7/26)

First up the Paras! In the FY22 contract there is this new provision, providing professional development to paras (which the Federation has claimed the district hasn't provided in the past) (8/26)

But the biggest change is compensation. On the left is how much Para's are currently paid based on FY21 rates, and on the right is how much they will be paid in FY22 (as that is a prior fiscal year, they will receive backpay). Paras will start at $16 instead of $11! (9/26)

In the other contract for Paras there is the compensation for FY23 - FY25 where by FY25 Paras will start at $17.50 an hour! (10/26)

Next up secretaries! Mainly just salary changes. Here are what secretaries are currently paid (FY21 rates), notice the starting rate of $14.76 (11/26)

Here is what secretaries will be paid in FY22, notice the starting rate of $17.05! (12/26)

And here is what secretaries will be paid from FY23 - FY25, notice the starting rate of $18.09 in FY25! (13/26)

Next up cafeteria workers! Here is what they are currently paid per FY21 rates, notice the starting rate of $12.81 an hour! (14/26)

On the left is what they are going to get paid per FY22 rates (notice the starting rate of $15), and on the right FY23 - FY25 rates (notice the FY25 starting rate of $16.50)! (15/26)

And finally bus drivers and attendants! Here is what they are currently paid per FY21 rates (notice the starting rate of $19.15 and $16.20 respectively) (16/26)

On the left is what they are going to get paid per FY22 rates (notice the starting rate of $22.15 and $16.50 respectively), and on the right FY23 - FY25 rates (notice the FY25 starting rate of $23.65 and $18 respectively)! (17/26)

Though I think some of the salaries could be increased even more (mainly in regards to cafeteria workers and bus drivers especially where Worcester is now offering $30 an hour starting wage), but I think this will help to fix PPS's staffing issues with these units (18/26)

Though there are still some questions that remain to be seen:
- Why was there such a delay in ratifying the contract? Why wasn't it done before the start of the school year?
- What if the ratification process fails? Now what?
- What is the status of the custodial unit?

(19/26)

- When will we know the results of the ratification?
- When will the school committee meet to ratify the contract (possibly at their first meeting in September at this rate)?
- Will this still resolve woes between the Federation and the school committee and district?

(20/26)

And most importantly: are they even allowed to put all of this information on the open internet? I looked around for other examples of unions doing the same thing and I saw that Boston's Teachers Union have been releasing some information about their negotiation sessions (21/26)

and recently released a tentative agreement that needs to be ratified in a few weeks, but that is about it. I also saw this article saying how it tends to be frowned upon in "good faith" negotiations democratandchronicle.com/story/news/loc… (22/26)

And this doesn't seem like it is a mistake, the union has been releasing information about their negotiations on the internet for a while now for anyone to find. If they wanted to keep it confidential, why not just send it via email instead of putting it on the website? (23/26)

It seems more likely that it is a tactic the Federation is deploying to drum up support for its cause, especially with their other means of drumming up public support (protesting at school committee meetings, public comments at meetings, etc.) (24/26)

I am also curious to see if the school committee knows this information is out there and their attitudes towards it as well. (25/26)

To wrap things up, these new contracts definitely bring in big changes, and it will be very interesting to see how ratification by the union and then school committee goes! (26/26)

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