Watertown Teachers Contract Approved After Teachers Ratify the Deal

The long wait is over for Watertown teachers. Today, on the 588^th day working without a contract, the teachers union voted to approve the proposed contract.

Watertown Educators Association President Debra King smiled as she came out from the Watertown High School Auditorium following the vote tallying.

“We have a contract!” she said.

The deal is official with the teachers union vote and .

King would not reveal the exact vote, but said that the contract was approved by more than the two-thirds majority required to ratify it. Also, most of the more than 280 teachers voted on the contract.

While she is relieved to get the deal done, she said the teachers did not get all that they wanted.

“We felt we really needed to get it settled,” King said. “Teachers took in on the chin, with to zeros (salary increases in the first two years of the contract). It is far less than what the School Committee (negotiators) agreed to earlier.”

In April 2011, the WEA approved a memorandum of agreement made by negotiating teams from the teachers union and the school district but . Those opposing the contract said it was because the town could not afford the contract without laying off a number of teachers.

The proposal last year would have given teachers a 1.5 percent raise during the current school year. 

The approved contract gives no raises for the first two years of the deal and teachers will receive a 2.5 percent increase next school year. King noted, however, that it is split up so that they will get a 1.5 percent increase the first half of the year and a 1 percent increase at the mid-year point.

Negotiations went on for more than two years, and King credited School Committee Chairwoman Eileen Hsu-Balzer, who took the position in January, with helping move the contract along.

“Eileen is easy to work with and she was eager to settle it,” King said.

Moving forward, King said she is concerned that even with a settled contract that Watertown might not be able to compete with other area communities when hiring teachers.

“Our biggest concern is we continue to lose teachers,” King said. “People look at salaries and with districts within walking distance of Watertown that pay more money, people are going to communities that pay more money.”

The contract is in the second year already, so King says she will begin planning for the next round of negotiations over the summer.