Montclair Teachers Demand Promised Pay Boost, Rally Outside BOE

MONTCLAIR, NJ — Members of Montclair’s public teacher union want the pay boost they’ve been promised… and they’re tired of waiting for it.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Montclair Education Association (MEA) held a rally outside the board of education office. Gathering on Valley Road, protesters held up signs such as “How can I teach your kids when I can’t feed mine?”

According to MEA President Petal Robertson, union members are trying to raise awareness about their recently hammered-out work contract with the district, which they say is not being honored.

“It’s causing financial distress among an already-strained membership,” Robertson said.

After going hundreds of days without a work contract, union members came to terms with the district on a new agreement last summer. As part of that settlement – which has been ratified by both parties – teachers and other support staff were due to get a pay bump.

That money still hasn’t materialized as of Tuesday, the union charged.

The MEA offered the following statement about the situation:

“The Montclair Education Association and the Montclair Board of Education reached a settlement during negotiation and the contract was duly ratified by both parties. However, the promise of the increase in pay has not been honored by the board and thousands of Montclair Education Association members have been impacted. As a part of negotiations process, the MEA members received their 2017-18 salaries as is custom when districts and unions are working with an expired contract to reach a settlement. However, the board has not paid the MEA’s 1,000-plus members their 2019-2020 salaries, despite an agreed-upon contract. To further add insult to injury, the members are being charged the 2019-20 rate for health benefit contributions, making their take home pay a complete net loss.”

According to interim superintendent Nathan Parker, who took over the reins from Kendra Johnson before the start of the school year, the teachers are rightfully upset.

“There were a number of missteps along the way,” he told Patch on Tuesday.

Parker confirmed the MEA members haven’t been getting the negotiated salary increases, which is an administrative miscue and isn’t the fault of teachers, custodians or paraprofessionals, he said.

According to Parker, processing for the new contract agreement wasn’t done properly, resulting in the pay delays.

Parker said MEA members should see a portion of the negotiated pay increases by Oct. 31. However, retroactive pay increases for the 2018-19 school year may take “a little more time,” he added.

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DIRECT DEPOSIT ISSUES

In addition to the pay increase issue, Montclair teachers are also upset over a foul-up regarding direct deposits, the MEA reported Tuesday.

According to the MEA, many of its members didn’t get direct deposits of their salaries on Oct. 15. This created issues for employees who were counting on the cash to pay bills, resulting in “financial catastrophe.”

Parker said the direct deposit mix-up – which has since been corrected – was the result of a delay in processing.

“Normally teachers’ checks are done on the 15th of the month, and also on the 30th and 31st of the month,” Parker said. “Because the direction to the bank to issue the checks using the ACH methodology is not instantaneous, it takes a few days.”

Parker said the task should have been done last week, but wasn’t done until Monday morning, which turned out to be a bank holiday.

Many of the affected employees have been reporting that they got their direct deposits on Tuesday, Parker said.

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