No agreement in PVEA, board teachers contract negotiations; strike possible

The Perkiomen Valley Education Association (PVEA) is still without a contract after the latest bargaining session with the school board Friday, Feb. 4.

According to a statement on the Perkiomen Valley School District's website, the PVEA proffered a new, verbal proposal, and threatened to strike if the proposal wasn't accepted by the end of the month.

In a letter to the editor — which is posted below — PVEA media contact Garreth Heidt called the district's claim that the union "declined to use the independent fact finder’s report as a basis for further negotiations" a "patently despicable distortion of the truth aimed solely at fomenting public sentiment against the teachers."

The district website has also posted a letter from the school board's legal advisor Jeffrey Sultanik, urging the union to withdraw what Sultanik characterized as a "'non-negotiable' proposal."

The following is a letter to the editor Heidt submitted to Perkiomen Valley Patch:

To the Editor:

As the Valley begins to break out of the icy grip of yet another winter storm, and we look forward to an early spring, courtesy of Punxsutawney Phil, the teachers of the Perkiomen Valley Education Association find themselves sitting across the bargaining table from a school board frozen in position for close to a year.

Since late 2009, the PVEA has sought a contract settlement with this school board — first, through two “early-bird” proposals, and then through numerous proposals mindful of the unique economic circumstances facing the district.  We have met with the board a total of 13 times (not counting our early bird proposals).  At few of our meetings has this board exhibited anything close to a willingness to negotiate. 

The New Oxford American Dictionary defines the verb “negotiate” as “[to] try to reach an agreement or compromise by discussion with others.” Incomprehensibly, the Board of School Directors of the Perkiomen Valley has refused to discuss the terms and sticking points of any of the PVEA’s proposals and thus has not sought “to negotiate” a fair contract with the teachers of the Perkiomen Valley. 

Rather, they sit silent and frozen, refusing to bargain over reasonable proposals.  This is true even of the PVEA proposal of Sept. 29, 2010 — a three-year proposal with salary increases that were almost identical to, if not less than, those of the fact finder’s report.

Such a posture is not imagined or a mere difference in perspective.  It was the board’s intransigence that so frustrated the PVEA that we agreed to an accelerated move to fact finding in October of 2010. 

Additionally, by dictate of the board’s legal counsel, Mr. Jeffrey Sultanik, the PVEA is no longer permitted to discuss issues pertinent to a contract settlement (e.g., seeking information and clarification regarding various proposed health care plans) with any member of the board’s negotiation team.  All communications must be filtered through the offices of Mr. Sultanik’s legal firm.

And now, while the PVEA maintains its belief in the process, the board simply reasserts its obstinate posture. The latest example being their reaction to the PVEA proposal of Friday, Feb. 4:  No discussion, no counter proposal, no bargaining ... no negotiation.

The Feb. 4 proposal is incredibly reasonable and includes large concessions on the part of the association. This proposal was presented as a good faith attempt by the association to reach settlement, and showed considerable movement by the association in the areas of salary, health care and course credit reimbursement. Rather than entertaining this proposal, the board has again demonstrated an unwillingness to negotiate. The association, at this point, is essentially negotiating against ourselves, which of course is unacceptable. 

The board’s unwillingness to consider the association’s recent proposal cannot be interpreted as being predicated on economic considerations. The proposed salary provisions are within one-half of one percentage point of the fact finder’s recommendations. While this is significant to the individual member, it represents .19 percent of the overall budget of the district, or approximately $165,000 per year for an estimated annual budget of $85 million. 

Instead of bargaining, the board has resorted to spouting untruths.  In the anonymous release posted on the district’s website, the board and their legal counsel claim, without any reference to the details of the PVEA proposal, that the PVEA did not use the fact finder’s report as a basis for resumed negotiations as we indicated we would. This is a patently despicable distortion of the truth aimed solely at fomenting public sentiment against the teachers. 

The association has overwhelmingly rejected the fact finder’s report as unacceptable, and we have continually informed the board and their legal counsel, in writing, that we would not be held to the wording or terms of the report.  We view the report as a starting point for our newly restarted negotiations (such as they are), but it is not the foundational document the board holds it to be. 

As a sign of good faith, the association’s most recent proposal contains considerable concessions to our initial position, many of which were based on suggestions found in the fact finder’s report.  The proposed concessions in course reimbursement, health care, prescription drug coverage and salary, although different from the provisions of the report, are based upon it and represent a good faith attempt to reach a settlement that is both fair and reasonable to the district and the association.

Those are the details.  That is the truth.

Thirteen negotiations meetings later, there is also enough evidence to reveal another truth. This board has no intention of bargaining a fair contract with their teachers. Instead, they bargain through silence, they distort the truth, and they perpetuate a chill in the air that keeps the citizens and students of the Valley frozen in apprehension. The board has continually facilitated an atmosphere of “us versus them” during these negotiations that has belabored bargaining and harmed the relationship between the district and their educators.

The PVEA remains committed to meeting this board at any time to settle this contract through open discussion and the principles of fair bargaining. We have proposed reasonable contracts crafted with an awareness of the economic downturn from which we are currently recovering. But at each meeting, this board sits frozen, like ice-glazed rocks refusing to bargain in good faith.  Clearly, they intend to be a barrier upon which the teachers will break themselves. 

That will not happen. The PVEA has shown its willingness to compromise a fair and reasonable settlement with the board.  We have been willing, up to this point, to bend ... but we will not break.

For more information, updates and another perspective, please visit www.pvea.org.

Garreth Heidt, Media Spokesman for the teachers of the Perkiomen Valley Education Association.