Hey, sorry about that...I'm back.

Where was I...

Oh, yeah...I was about to let you read the article about the pending "Moon Strike".

Link to Original Story

PSEA: Second teachers strike possible in Moon Area

By Linda Wilson Fuoco
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Is the Moon Area School District headed for another teachers strike?

Neither the district nor the teachers' union can answer that, for neither side seems to know what the next step might be.

"There may be another strike. At this time there are no plans for one, but it's a possibility," said Butch Santicola, staff member of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, which represents Moon teachers.

"I do not know what will happen" as the next step, Mr. Santicola said.

It is not clear to either side how many more days the teachers may lawfully strike this school year.

District solicitor Jack Cambest said on Tuesday, "We have asked the union to submit new dates for negotiations, and we are still waiting to hear from them."

Moon Area teachers were on strike Nov. 8 to 24, closing schools for about 3,700 students in Crescent and Moon.

They returned to the classroom while both sides agreed to pursue what they described as a nontraditional "dispute resolution procedure."

Both sides agreed to try an innovation in teachers strikes by entering into voluntary nonbinding arbitration.

A third-party arbitrator listened to proposals from the district and the union, then recommended a proposal that would settle the contract dispute.

Early last week, teachers voted for the recommendations of arbitrator Marc Winters, though the union "accepted concessions," Mr. Santicola said. "We did not get everything we wanted."

On Jan. 12, the school board issued a news release announcing they "arrived at a unanimous decision not to approve the recommendation of the impartial arbitrator."

Mr. Santicola said Tuesday: "I want everyone to understand how disappointed and how upset we are by the board's decision. They wanted this arbitration. They asked for a third party and did not take a public vote, which may be a violation of the Sunshine Law."

The union has "been very quiet and very kind" throughout the negotiating process, Mr. Santicola said. "That may change. We have a problem now. I do not know what will happen."

Mr. Santicola, who has worked full time for the PSEA since 1970 and has been involved in many contract resolutions, said he had never been involved in a situation like Moon's. And that's one of the reasons, he said, that he does not know what will happen next.

"This is a special school district," Mr. Santicola said. "These are great schools, and I happen to be a Moon taxpayer. My two children graduated from Moon schools and I have a granddaughter in this district."

When the district rejected the arbitrator's recommendations, a news release said school directors "did not believe that the arbitrator's award met the goals the board established for the wage and benefit package."

The arbitrator suggested teacher wage increases of 3 percent, 4.25 percent, 4.35 percent, 4.35 percent and 4.45 percent during the five years of the contract. That would be $5.7 million more than the current salary offer from the school board, officials said, and that would result in a 2.85 mill real estate tax increase over the life of the contract.

The arbitrator also called for employee insurance premium co-payments to remain status quo in the current year and then go to 5 percent, 6 percent, 6 percent and 7 percent in the last four years of the contract. That would have resulted in monthly premium co-payments of $37 to $106 in the last year of the agreement, which teachers agreed to do.

The school district had proposed 10 percent premium co-payments that would have resulted in monthly co-payments of $53 to $151 in the last year of the agreement.