CAT Tracks for April 29, 2002 TALKS FAIL...STRIKE CONTINUES

NEGOTIATIONS

Bargaining teams for the two sides met Sunday afternoon for over four hours.

At the beginning of the session, the CAT team presented its promised counterproposal...moving $25,000 out of the first year into the second year of a 2-year agreement. The Board team indicated that it would agree to a continuation of the 125 Cafeteria Plan provided in Section 4.8, but that they still wanted to take over control of the selection of the insurance carrier. The Board team then caucused until 3:15 p.m.

When the Board team returned, Attorney Mundorf indicated that the Board was not changing its monetary package...accusing the CAT of doing the same. This assertion was false, in that shifting $25,000 to the second year means that you only have to pay it the second year...not the first year and again the second year. Mr. Mundorf was not impressed.

There was then a recess for an hour-and-a-half while the Board team went to Cairo High School to meet with the parents of Seniors and 8th graders in order to make arrangements for them to report to school Monday, April 29th, to receive instruction from administrators. Reports from inside the meeting indicate that it was "not pretty". Parents were not happy that the Board was only concerned with two groups of students instead of ALL students. Reportedly, members of the Board team made derogatory remarks about teachers in general, but high school teachers in particular for going out on strike in the middle of state testing.

When the crowd kept taking the Board team to task, a member of their team took action designed to turn the crowd against teachers. That Board member defiantly held up a folder of papers and proceded to distribute them. The papers...District generated computer printouts of every teacher in the District BY NAME with a listing of that teacher's exact salary and benefits, including TRS and health insurance! This is the same Board team who would not allow the CAT bargaining team to even see, much less have, a copy of a list of teachers who belonged to the District's group health insurance until we threatened to take legal action. Yesterday...they printed it off - and more - for public distribution!

The immediate impact of their action was that it backfired...parents wanted to know what the superintendent made. They wanted to know what Board Attorney Barney Mundorf made. The Board team would not answer those requests. Hmmm.

The meeting disintegrated after that and was finally called off. Plans for opening the school on April 29th were postponed...possibly until Tuesday.

When negotiations resumed at 5 p.m., the CAT team informed the Board that it was aware of what had transpired at the high school...mostly by asking if new rules on "confidentiality" had been developed/adopted. Attorney Mundorf was not amused. The CAT team then asked for a printout of administrative salaries and benefits. Mr. Mundorf bruskly said to "Send a F.O.I.A." - a Freedom of Information Act request. We then asked for a printout of District expenses for legal fees for this fiscal year. Again...the response..."Send a F.O.I.A.". Both sides then caucused.

After a half-hour, the groups came back together and the CAT team clarified its offer and received acknowledgement that our proposed shifting of $25,000 to the second year was cheaper than our last proposal. The Board team then caucused for 20 minutes.

When the Board team returned, they stated that they had no more to offer...and that they still believed that arbitration was the way to go. When the CAT team asked if the details of the arbitration were negotiable, Attorney Mundorf said "No".

At that point, Rick Tygett, the federal mediator, stepped in and called a recess...asked the two teams to take a couple of days off...to reflect on where things stood. Mr. Tygett suggested that the two teams issue a joint press release, which was done.

PARENT MEETING

Parents who attended the 3:30 p.m. meeting at the high school had indicated to the Board team that they wanted to meet with both sides at 7 p.m. The CAT was made aware of that request shortly thereafter. Even though negotiations ended at 6 p.m., the CAT team remained for the meeting. The meeting was similar to two earlier meetings...parents "beat up" on both sides...venting their frustration that their children's education had been disrupted.

Teachers took a little extra heat because of the printout distributed by the Board team earlier at CHS that listed teacher salaries and benefits by name. Attorney Mundorf and President of the Board, Joe Griggs, "played" to the emotions of the crowd...presenting the same misleading information that produced the "$1577 raise" given out in the Board's first press release. When questioned by the parents, I explained that - despite assertions by the Board team to the contrary - teachers are asking for a raise that is LESS than the current cost-of-living increase of 4%.

Attorney Mundorf then put the question of arbitration before the audience...taunting the CAT with immediate acceptance "so that the children can go back to school". We patiently explained that this was a bogus offer...that the Board had already reneged on an earlier pledge to negotiate using the number agreed upon last Thursday by the financial experts...that when the number agreed to by the District's own CPA was not to their liking, they were determined to try another approach...to get a "second bite of the apple".

The parents repeated their insistence that the two parties resolve their differences immediately and get children back in school on Monday morning. Both sides indicated that it would NOT happen that night, but that a meeting would occur later this week. The meeting ended at approximately 10 p.m.

STRIKE ENTERS 3RD DAY

Teachers will resume picketing on Monday morning at 8 a.m. at their respective buildings. Lunch will be "potluck" at 11 a.m. The daily meeting will begin immediately afterwards. All members should plan to attend!