Plainfield Teachers' Union Hopes to Finalize Contract Next Month

After both sides met again with a federal mediator this week, Association of Plainfield Teachers (APT) President Dawn Bullock said the teachers’ union hopes to have a contact in place by next month.

Union members and school district representatives first met with a federal mediator last month, and have been working without a contract since August.

Bullock said the next time both sides will be at the bargaining table is Oct. 7, when union members hope to finalize a new contract. The union represents more than 1,800 District 202 employees.

“We are looking at approximately ten items on the table, the most pressing items include retirement, overloads, class size and structure of the work day,” Bullock said. As far as money goes, “We are far apart in understanding, yet approaching on final numbers,” she added.

Bullock said union salary proposals span two, three and four years.

“Currently, we are working with the board’s fourth finance representative and while this has complicated the process, we certainly believe we can reach an agreement on the 7th,” she said. Contract negotiations have been ongoing since last November.

District 202 Community Relations Director Tom Hernandez said while the district cannot comment on contract negotiations, it is not unusual for a mediator to be involved in collective bargaining.

The last three-year contract was negotiated in 2011. That pact implemented a “hard pay freeze” for the first year, with no step, longevity or extra duty increases.

In 2012-13, teachers raises of up to 2.55 percent, with smaller raises for brand-new teachers who moved up a “step.” For the final year of the contract, most teachers received up to 1.5 percent raises. In both of those years, longevity payments were frozen at 2010-11 levels. Starting in 2012, APT members, as well as the Plainfield Association of Support Staff members, began paying a larger share of health insurance costs.