CAT Tracks for April 27, 2002 "I'M TIRED AND I WANNA GO TO BED"

We began negotiating at 1 p.m. on Friday afternoon. The session started on a promising note in that the Board's attorney, Barney Mundorf, (who has evidently been installed as their new chief negotiator - at $$$ per hour) offered to pay our health insurance for the remainder of the year and give us enough dollars to "make us whole" - that we would receive the same take home pay as last year. But...no step...and no raise.

Board Attorney Barney Mundorf DID then made the following statement: "I wouldn't expect anyone to sign a contract to make less money than they made last year." Then why has the Board of Education demanded that its teachers do exactly that...for the past 10 months? Why did Mr. Mundorf direct/allow the Board of Education to issue a press release last Wednesday - a press release that violated the jointly-agreed-to news blackout on negotiations matters - a press release that stated unequivocally that the Board had already offered its teachers almost a $1600 raise? Why did the Board of Education force its employees to strike by demanding that they accept what their own attorney now admits (behind closed doors) was an unreasonable offer. Why did the Board of Education close down the school district...putting 900 students "on the streets"...when it knew that the teachers had rejected its unreasonable offer? Why didn't Mr. Mundorf and the Board of Education admit this Wednesday night at or following the parent meeting instead of simply setting up another meeting...allowing/forcing the teachers to go out on strike? The lack of any reasonable answer to these questions is why the Board of Education has a TOTAL LACK OF CREDIBILITY when it sits down at the table!

This is the BIG PROBLEM with the Board of Education...a "past practice" that they have eagerly embraced...namely, not being truthful and upfront with its employees and the public. When the Board tells its employees...who are going to know better, because they see their paycheck twice a month...that it has given them a raise when it hasn't...When the Board of Education issues press releases to the media that repeat that lie to the public in order to make its employees look selfish and greedy...How can the Board of Education expect employees and public to believe anything they have to say...to respect their position?

BUT...back to negotiations...Unfortunately, when the CAT team tried to build upon this positive step, the Board drew the line...no more to give. This was VERY disappointing in that the Board team finally admitted what Steve Kohn had been telling them for months...what the "bean counters" (including the District's CPA) confirmed on Thursday...that THE DISTRICT DOES HAVE MONEY...money to give employees a raise and end the strife caused by the Board's insistence that the District was broke and that employees would have to take a pay cut.

When we tried to pursue another avenue, the Board indicated that they would have to run some numbers. We said to go ahead and do it. They quickly returned and said that it would take some time. We said "Fine...we're willing to stay here as long as necessary...all night, if need be...to get this done...AND we get closer to Monday with each passing hour."

They went away, but came back in a couple of minutes and said that the person who needed to do the work was TIRED and needed to go home! (This has been one of the major problems with negotiations since we started the process over 10 months ago...the Board team just doesn't want to put in the time. The "old" Board insisted on a two-hour limit; when the "new" board came in, their first "proposal" was to reduce the sessions to an hour-and-a-half! NOW...with the schools closed down...they "turn out the lights" at 8:30 p.m.) We tried repeatedly to get them to stay and negotiate. They said "No...let's resume tomorrow morning." The session ended at 8:45 p.m.

Next session: 10 a.m. on Saturday morning.