Alameda Unified School District, Teachers Union Reach Tentative Agreement

Announcement submitted by Alameda Unified School District:

Negotiators for the Alameda Unified School District (AUSD) and the Alameda Education Association (AEA) reached a tentative agreement yesterday in their negotiations over salary and other contract considerations.

Under the terms of the one-year agreement, members of the AEA (the teachers union) will receive an ongoing 4% raise in salary starting in 2015-2016. The district also provided 1% in salary that the union chose to use to increase the hourly rate for teachers, increase stipends for speech and language pathologists, and contribute to the cost of dental insurance for teachers. In addition, the district agreed to cover the state-mandated increase in teachers’ contributions to their pensions this year.

The two sides also agreed to establish committees to plan and establish school calendars, as well as collaboratively review the process for teacher evaluations.

This is the first time in about a decade that AEA and AUSD have come to agreement before the expiration of the contract with the teachers union. The next step is for AEA members and AUSD’s Board of Education to vote on whether to ratify the agreement. Union members will vote from June 8 to June 11, 2015. The Board of Education will vote on ratification at its regular meeting on June 23, 2015.

“I am grateful we were able to come to this agreement with our teachers,” said Superintendent Sean McPhetridge, “not only because our teachers and other employees deserve to be honored with a raise but also because it is a clear sign to me that the district’s relationship with AEA is now more peaceful and more collaborative than it has been in all the years I have worked in AUSD. I am also extremely grateful to all of the people who came to the bargaining table ready and able to work together and negotiate a fair deal to support our teachers and, by extension, our students.”

Negotiations Background

The district and the union “sunshined” (or revealed) their contract proposals at the November 18, 2014 Board of Education meeting, and the two teams then began formal negotiations in January, 2015. They have met 14 times since then.

In March of 2013, AUSD and AEA agreed on a 5% raise that has been implemented over these past two years. If ratified by the AEA, the current TA would now bring the total salary increase to AEA to 10 percent over the last three years.

Negotiations on successor agreements between the district and the union will begin in January 2016. Said Superintendent McPhetridge, “I laud my colleagues for working together in new ways this year to help honor our employees with the raise they deserve, and I look forward to us continuing to work thoughtfully, mindfully, and incrementally so we can continue to collaborate toward making decisions together that make AUSD a sustainable district in years to come. I am aware of challenges we face, but I am heartened by our collective progress.”

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