Plainfield Teachers Union Approves Contract with District 202

After more than a year of negotiations, members of the Association of Plainfield Teachers (APT) on Thursday voted to approve a new, three-year contract with District 202.

The agreement came three months after teachers voted to reject a previous version of the contract. Teachers had been working without a contract since August.

District 202 on Thursday announced that teachers voted 1,078 to 554 in favor of the pact, which increases pay by an average 2 to 3 percent per year, retroactive to July 1. The union represents about 1,850 certified staff members, including all teachers in District 202.

The board of education is expected to sign off on the contract at its Feb. 9 meeting, Community Relations Director Tom Hernandez said.

Both sides returned to the bargaining table in November to address issues including workload, retirement and compensation.

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Earlier this month, APT President Dawn Bullock said the union had reached a verbal agreement with the district.

Hernandez said the new contract includes several changes from the original proposal, saying the “most significant” change is the addition of retirement language recognizing years of service in the district. Retirees with at least 15 years of experience will get $500 per year of service, he said, and those who work at least 33 years will also get an additional benefit of $14,000.

“This benefit rewards loyalty, longevity, and experience,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Lane Abrell said.”It also allows the district to encourage more veteran employees to retire at their earliest opportunity. The potential savings in staffing can greatly benefit the district.”

Another change is language addressing professional requirements affecting teachers’ workloads.

But Hernandez said the general compensation package did not change from the proposal that was tentatively approved by union leaders — then rejected by members — last fall.

“We understand, respect and appreciate how hard our teachers work every day,” Board of Education President Roger Bonuchi said in a press release issued by District 202. “We know how much they have sacrificed in the last few years because of the recession and all of the challenges facing public education,” he said. ”As elected officials, our job is to balance that respect and appreciation with our responsibility to use our community’s resources as efficiently as possible. We believe this contract achieves both of those goals.”

The district said the “modest raises” come after pay freezes in the district.

The additional salary costs will mean a slight increase in operating expenses, according to District 202. Funds for APT member salaries are expected to increase by 2.2 percent this year; 1.1 percent next year; and 2.6 percent in 2016-17.

The last teachers’ contract, which ran from 2011-14 ,included a one-year hard pay freeze and increases of less than 1.5 percent each of the last two years of the contract.

Pay for support staff was also frozen for a year in the current contract to help save money during the recession, the district said. The current contract with the Plainfield Association of Support Staff expires in June 2015. Negotiations with PASS are expected to begin later this spring.

Administrators’ pay was also frozen for two years. Administrators and support staff saw their share of health insurance increase.

Abrell said the economy is slowly improving, giving the district more financial flexibility.

“The APT bargained in good faith for its members who are some of the most talented, dedicated educators around,” Abrell said. “This agreement is fair to both sides, especially considering that there are many fiscal conditions that are still shaky at best, not the least of which is state funding.”

In a statement released by the district, Bullock reacted to the agreement.

“This contract moves our association forward from where we were, and gets us closer to where we hope and deserve to be,” she said. “We understand the many issues that District 202 is struggling with, and we appreciate the work everyone did to produce a reasonable agreement.”

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