Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for May 13, 2009 NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE

No humor in this report...

Totally frustrating!

On part-time employee language, inching along...truly bizarre.

Best examples: The BOE is still insisting that it does not want part-time employees to receive notices of vacancies (that slip of paper that gets included in paychecks)...and that it does not want part-time employees included in language that specifies that the District will use President's Day instead of Lincoln's Birthday as a holiday or that the District will close for a week at Easter to provide a Spring Break.

Hell, the BOE doesn't even want to include part-time people in items that were deleted from the contract for full-time employees...only "recognizing" one deleted section of the contract with respect to part-time employees...not all five???

All of the above is just plain silly...and symptomatic of why contract negotiations have dragged on for a entire year!!!

The only reason CAT has listed the above items in its proposals is that "the plan" (from our perspective) is that when the smoke clears, the new contract will address only those items for which part-time employment might warrant modification - e.g. insurance coverage, tenure, sick leave, personal leave, etc. There is no earthly reason why the items mentioned in the paragraph above should not be applicable to part-time employees!

As for "bizarre"...while adamantly excluding the trivial items mentioned above, the BOE moved to include a new section for part-time employees - MILITARY LEAVE!!! Go figure...

At the conclusion of the session, there was a verbal exchange that seemed to indicate some movement by the BOE on important areas like salary, sick and personal leave.

So, maybe next time...

On money...

CAT decided to try to "jump start" the glacial movement on salary...you know, the $85 dollar exchanges.

CAT reduced its monetary offer by hundreds of dollars over the anticipated 3-year agreement.

The BOE responded...

...with another $85.

Oh, to be fair, the BOE did "triple" their offer by adding another $85 for next year and another $85 for the final year.

Why $85, you may ask!!!

Well, we don't have the answer to that! If YOU find out, please let us know...an enquiring CAT bargaining team would like to know!

Next meeting...Monday, May 18th, at 7 p.m.

Postscript: Your CAT bargaining team earned their money last night...began the meeting at 7 p.m. and adjourned at 11 p.m.