Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for February 10, 2009 NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE

RUDE, RUDE, RUDE...

In computerese, using all caps is considered impolite...akin to screaming or yelling.

DAMN STRAIGHT!!!

When the two sides discuss exchanging proposals electronically (i.e. by e-mail) between much delayed bargaining sessions in order to expedite a much delayed process...

When CAT sends a proposal by e-mail on January 23rd and receives acknowledgment of receipt and a pledge that the BOE Team will try to get together to draft a response...

When CAT acknowledges that "pledge" with a promise to draft yet another counter to be e-mailed prior to the February 10th meeting with the mediator...or at the very latest at the beginning of the mediation session...

Well, pardon my French and my capital letters!!!

In response to CAT's proposal of January 23rd...NOTHING!

At 6 p.m., the mediator visited with our team...pressuring us for a monetary counter to the BOE's proposal...that $350 insult that was presented on January 20, 2009...in response to our initial proposal of August 19, 2008...FIVE FRICKIN' MONTHS AGO!!! (Of course, it is NOW almost SIX FREAKIN' MONTHS!!!)

WELL, HELL!!!

Anyway...to show our good faith, we made a proposal...took all of five minutes. The BOE came up $350, so we came down $350. We also reminded the mediator of the BOE's failure to respond to the proposals that we had given them during our January 20th session and the proposal we e-mailed on January 23rd.

The mediator then went down to "beat up on the BOE team". (The role of the mediator is to "beat up" on BOTH sides...to try to force movement toward agreement.)

This is where the cursing comes in...

CAT sat...until 7:30 p.m....with nothing to do!!! (Evidently CATs respond to beatings quicker than BOE members. Practice, practice, practice...)

Evidently the BOE Team BEGAN considering CAT's proposals of January 20th and January 23rd at 6 p.m.

It bears repeating...RUDE, RUDE, RUDE!!!

Did we make any progress?

Yeah, we are inching along...we TA'd a wimpy Memorandum of Agreement, similar to the one attached to the old Contract. Whoop dee doo!

Actually, other than the BOE wanting to strip our retired part-time teachers of all rights under the sun...and not wanting to pay anybody any money...hey, we could probably sign off on an agreement tomorrow.

If the preceding paragraph seemed to drip of sarcasm...well, heck...I'm trying to avoid cursing.

The mediator had to leave at 9 p.m., so the two parties decided to call it an evening.

There is agreement to hold another meeting (without mediator) in order to address the outstanding language items. The exact date was not set.

Stay tuned...

PS: The BOE sweetened the pot...upping its ante by $85. Your CAT Team was underwhelmed and decided to postpone its counter. I mean, we could have "called" their raise with an $85 decrease...but it was felt that one silly offer for the night was enough.

PPS: "Laughing Kitty" certainly had it right this morning. Unfortunately, I no longer see the humor...