D124 Teachers Union Files Intent To Strike Notice

EVERGREEN PARK, IL — Teachers from Evergreen Park’s public elementary schools will file an intent to strike notice after negotiations with the Dist. 124 school board failed to yield a tentative contract. The Evergreen Park Federation of Teachers rejected the D124 board’s latest offer after a 90-minute mediation session on Wednesday evening. Both sides will have another go at it with a federal mediator on Sept. 23.

The union representing 135 teachers, 70 paraprofessionals and support staff from Evergreen Park Elementary School District 124’s five schools, including Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, Southwest and Central Middle School, has been at the bargaining table with the D124 school board since March. After meeting six times, the board initiated mediation. Union members voted down the board’s best and final offer in August.

Teachers, paraprofessionals and support staff are currently working without a contract. Union members said in a written statement released on Thursday that the “key issue remaining is high teacher and staff turnover – a result of the current low wages for teachers, paraprofessionals, and support staff in this district.”

“Our members are preparing themselves in case negotiations stall and we’re pushed to strike. However, such action is always a last resort,” EPFT co-president Tracy Bickham said in a news release. “It is time the Board of Education recognize that to attract and retain high-quality teachers and staff that our students deserve, they must offer us a fair contract with equitable pay that values our work and experience.”

Dist. 124’s teachers maintain that the district does not promote veteran teachers to administrative positions with the district’s five schools, although a veteran teacher was appointed to an assistant principal's position, and director of curriculum to acting principal of Central Middle School. Some teachers have also complained about the poor leadership within the district’s administrative team.

>>> Teachers Union Rejects Latest Offer From D124

The union announced on the EPFT124 Facebook Page its plans to initiate the public posting process with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board. On Wednesday, the union’s negotiating team rejected the board’s counter offer that would increase teacher salaries to $2,600 in year two of the contract, and support staff salaries to $2.10 an hour in years two of the proposed contract.

During the required 14-day waiting period for the public posting, the teacher’s union may not go on strike while mediation sessions continue. If the period passes and a tentative contract agreement cannot be reached, D124 teachers, paraprofessionals and support staff could walk as early as mid-October.

Dist. 124 officials also issued a statement claiming that they increased their offer to the union’s negotiating team in the hopes of hammering out a contract they could bring back to their members. The district emailed parents on Thursday informing them that the teachers union has taken another step toward a potential work stoppage, but does not necessarily mean that a strike will occur.

"During the mediation session, the Board offered to increase the proposed raise for all certified staff members in Year 2 of the three-year contract to $2,600, increased its overall offer to include an average salary increase of 11.5% over three years, and increased its starting salary for non-certified staff members by more than 15% over three years."

According to the latest information available from the Illinois State Board of Education, the average annual salary for a Dist. 124 teach is $56,967, below the state average of $65,721. The average salary for D124 administrators is $103,691 compared to the statewide average of $107,279.

D124 teachers and support staff went on strike for ten days in 2012. A potential teacher’s strike would affect 1,900 students in grades K-8.

~ This story has been updated with new information.