BY BRANDY TUZON BOYD
THE NATOMAS BUZZ | @natomasbuzz
California School Employees Association Chapter No. 745 members voted 61-1 today to approve a multi-year contract with the Natomas Unified School District.
The agreement is for three years and brings to an end months of fruitless talks between school district officials and union representatives.
“This is good for us and good for the district,” union president Mike Sanders told The Natomas Buzz.
Both parties met at the bargaining table more than a dozen times before the school district declared an impasse in contract talks and proceeded to fact-finding. A daylong mediation session last week at the Public Employment Relations Board offices, while the fact-finding panel waited, resulted in the tentative agreement ratified overwhelmingly by classified union members today.
“The results of this agreement demonstrate the professionalism and commitment of all CSEA employees to best serve kids,” said Natomas school board president Bruce Roberts.
Terms of the new contract call for employees to take an average 5 percent pay cut in the form of mandatory furlough days. The number of furlough days varies by employee and some “critical” employees, such as those working in special education, will be exempt.
Classified employees will take up to 12 furlough days per calendar year based on their schedule. That’s a far cry from the proposed 24 furlough days in a contract rejected earlier this year by classified union members.
The contract also includes a “me too” clause that allows the classified union to reopen talks if the school district negotiates changes in its contract with the Natomas Teachers’ Association.
The Natomas Unified School District asked all its employee groups to take pay cuts to help avoid bankruptcy. Non-union employees agreed to a 7.9 percent pay cut for two-years. The teachers’ union approved a one-year contract to achieve a 7.9 percent pay cut in the form of increased class sizes and teacher layoffs. (Several pink-slipped teachers won challenges and will be back at work in fall so the savings is expected to be lower.)
Current budget projections show the school district has enough cash to get it through the 2011-12 school year. The Natomas classified union represents about 300 workers.
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