Federal Mediator To Be Added to D124 Teacher Contract Negotiations

EVERGREEN PARK, IL, June 22, 2016 – The Dist. 124 teachers union and board of education will be adding a federal mediator in the hopes of negotiating a new teacher’s contract before the start of the 2016-17 school year.
After five months of negotiations between the the Evergreen Park Elementary School Dist. 124 board of education and the Evergreen Park Federation of Teachers, a federal mediator will be working with both sides in bargaining sessions resuming in July, a union press release said.
Dist. 124 includes the village’s four K-5 elementary schools, Southeast, Southwest, Northeast and Northwest, and Central Middle School, which serves students in grades 6-8..
EPFT President Linda Blaeser, a kindergarten teacher and a 17-year veteran of Dist. 124 schools, eluded to miscommunication and changing board representatives at the negotiating table in statement released Wednesday evening:

“A long-term plan for improving Evergreen Park’s economy includes a solid investment in its schools. Unfortunately, the Board of Education has not shown its dedication to this goal by months of miscommunication and changing their representatives at the bargaining table. This would be like assigning a new teacher to a classroom every day. Our students deserve stability. We are hopeful that the addition of the federal mediator will move things along and keep the Board consistent in its proposals. We remain dedicated to good faith bargaining at the table to reach an agreement that is fair to the teachers and the students we serve. A fair contract will end the revolving door of new teachers in the district and keep experience in our classrooms. We hope to have a contract resolved well before the beginning of the school year.”

Both sides met June 21 to discuss a new contract. The current contract is set to expire June 30.

“We’re hoping the addition of a federal mediator will allow for a swift deal to be made,” said Kenzo Shibata, spokesman for the Illinois Federation of Teachers.
Shibata would not comment on what issues are holding up a new contract, only to say that “teachers want to maintain all the negotiating at the bargaining table.”
D124 teachers went out on strike for ten days in 2012 when the union and school board became deadlocked over salary increases and benefits.
Shibata said that both sides are working out a meeting schedule for July.
The district superintendent, Dr. Robert Machak, who has been speaking on behalf of the Dist. 124 board of education, could not immediately be reached for comment.