Welcome to the Vista Teachers Association

Impasse Declared - PREPARE FOR THE WORST

Dear Colleagues,
This has been a roller coaster year for bargaining. VUSD has declared Impasse on VTA for the 2nd time this year. We informed them at March that they needed to sunshine the contract before we could continue to bargain. They accused us of stalling and demanded we come to the table to bargain. We did come and at that meeting they declared Impasse. Weeks went by and we heard nothing from them and then they told us in April they were going to sunshine the contract at the Board meeting. We were right and they couldn’t declare impasse until they sunshined the contract.
At the April Board meeting the District held a public hearing to sunshine the contract and then wanted us to meet and bargain. Again they were only bargaining for take always and a paltry 2% onetime bonus tied to taking Five Furlough days, which is a 2.7% pay CUT. I guess they don’t think we know MATH.
Suddenly this week the District had an emergency meeting with Principals to discuss the stages of IMPASSE and how to prepare for a Strike. We haven’t even met with a mediator and the District is preparing for the worst.
NOW is the time for each member to take action, prepare for the worst and you need to be informed and stay connected.
• Save money now for the Fall in case there is a work stoppage. You will need to plan ahead.
• Check your email (Private and District) regularly during the summer. We will send you updates as needed.
• Talk to parents and colleagues about why it is important to maintain smaller class sizes.
• We will have two all unit member meetings the first week of school to discuss Work to Rule, bargaining updates and next steps.
• If you would rather receive texts over the summer send us your cell number and we will keep you updated. Send to vistateachers@gmail.com
• Join the Organizing/Crisis team and be a part of the solution.

NOTHING CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED UNLESS YOU ORGANIZE.

Thank you,
Barbara Franklin
President
Vista Teachers Association
760-758-2690
“The school is the last expenditure upon which America should be willing to economize.”
~Franklin D. Roosevelt

President's Message 4.27.12

Retirement Incentive
·         The School Board approved the Retirement incentive that was offered to our members. The last count I had was 53 of our members have accepted the offer. Please congratulate those members, who are retiring, you will recognize them because they have a smile on their face that won’t stop. Seriously, I am happy that they were able to take advantage of the offer and I wish them health and happiness in their retirement.

Bargaining Update
·         Our bargaining team will be meeting with the District on May 10th. The District requested this meeting and said they have new proposals. This comes after the District last declared impasse on VTA.
·         In March we brought it to the District’s notice that both sides had not sunshined the contract as required before bargaining and they accused us of stalling and demanded that we bargain in good faith. We did attend the next bargaining session and that is when they declared impasse.
·         To sunshine a contract just means that you have a public hearing at which time the public has a chance to speak to the issues being bargained.
·         The District sunshined the contract at the last Board meeting and we will be sunshining our proposals on May 10th. We would like at least 10% of our members from each site to come to the May 10th meeting wearing our Black, NO Larger Class sizes, t-shirts and carrying signs. We also need parents and students to speak at the Board meeting about how detrimental large class sizes are to education.
·         We have put together a Crisis Team that will be meeting every week until we get a settlement, however long that takes and whatever course it follows.
The steps of Impasse are:
o   Impasse declared
o   PERB(public employees relation board) notified
o   Letters sent to both sides from PERB stating the facts
o   PERB submit approval for a mediator and arranges through the two parties dates and times to meet
o   Mediation takes place and both sides attempt to come to agreement
o   If no agreement is reached then the next step is factfinding
o   Both sides submit written reports to an independent factfinder
o   Once that step is completed a factfinding meeting is held to again try to reach agreement based on the facts presented by both sides
o   If no agreement is reached the factfinder has approximately 30 days to write up their decision, which is not binding on either side
o   At this time the District can attempt to impose their last, best and final offer
o   The Association membership can reject the imposed offer and take a strike vote
o In order to prepare for all eventualities we must work to inform the community

                                                                   EDUCATION                 ORGANIZATION           SOLIDARITY

VTA/VUSD Bargaining Positions as of April 2012:
Salary VTA: One time 2% bonus
Salary VUSD: One time 2% bonus with Class Caps abolished
Benefits VTA: District pays full cost of Kaiser with Delta Dental
Benefits VUSD: Retain current district cap
Work Year VTA: 180 student days
Work Year VUSD: 175 student days
Class Size VTA: Grades 1-3 revert to 20:1 in 12-13; Grades 6-8 revert to 190/33 in 13-14; Grades 9-12 revert to 165/38 in 13-14
Class Size VUSD: Grades 1-3 ratio 25:1; Grades 4-5 school avg. 31:1; Grades 6-12 school avg. 31:1(includes RSP, speech); No max on teacher contacts or individual class size