Have they considered just not paying?
BUCKS COUNTY TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL _Tech school teachers still without new contract
Posted: Friday, June 10, 2011 2:04 pm | Updated: 9:26 pm, Fri Jun 10, 2011.
Teachers and other professionals at Bucks County Technical High School in Bristol Township are still working under a contract that expired almost a year ago, and neither side will disclose details on progress toward a new deal or specifics of what they want.
"Both the board and association have been talking and making progress," said BCTHS Administrative Director Leon Poeske, one of the lead negotiators for the joint school board committee.
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"We will continue to meet throughout the summer," he continued. "I will not make any further comments other than to state that both parties are working towards an agreement."
Poeske would not elaborate on what he meant by "progress."
Theresa Prato, president of the 124-member technical school teachers union that also includes guidance counselors and other professionals, was just as close mouthed.
"We have been continuing to meet and intend to work through the summer," she said.
The technical school, a full-time comprehensive facility that provides both academic and vocational instruction, draws students from the Bensalem, Bristol, Bristol Township, Morrisville, Neshaminy and Pennsbury school districts. Salaries for BCTHS teachers and others in their union have always been an average of the six sending districts, BCTHS officials said.
Under a four-year contract that expired June 30, 2010, the starting salary in the last year of the deal was $41,948 and maximum pay $90,607. Salaries have been frozen at the level they were when the contract expired. Under the contract, union members contribute 10 percent toward their health insurance premiums, Prato said.
Three BCTHS joint school board committee members, Rick Eccles of Neshaminy and Ralph Douglass and Harry Kramer of Bensalem, also declined to provide specifics on talks toward a new contract. Kramer said the next negotiating session is July 7.
Eccles did take the opportunity to say that he much preferred the tech school teachers union to the one at Neshaminy. Eccles and other Neshaminy school board members have been trying to reach a new deal with teachers there for almost three years.
"Their (technical school) union seems to be much more willing to understand the economic conditions various school districts are under," said Eccles. "Our (Neshaminy) union is out in left field somewhere. They might as well come in and watch a Phillies game. They have no idea what is going on in the real world. The technical school union seems to be pretty much on the ball. They seem responsible, concerned, interested in children and interested in not losing programs. In our (Neshaminy) district, it's the total opposite."
Neshaminy teachers union officials did not return phone calls or emails seeking a response to Eccles' comment.
Douglass, who said he has sat in on several negotiating sessions with the BCTHS teachers union, said it's been the consensus of both the board and union not to reveal specifics of the ongoing talks.
"Things are moving along nicely, but it's a tough process and it's best if we just let things flow until we have something definitive before we start making statements," he said.
