BTU Web Site - CONTRACT NEGOTIATION NEWS

EDITOR'S NOTE: With all four BTU units negotiating simultaneously this year, BTU Communications is changing the way negotiations announcements are posted on this page. All announcements will be preceded by the unit's acronym: BTU-EP (Broward instructional staff) BTU-TSP (Broward technical support staff) BTU-CSP (Pembroke Pines charter school staff) BTU-ESP (Broward education support staff) and the date. The dates of upcoming sessions will posted at the end of each announcement. All members are reminded to call the BTU office prior to leaving for negotiations sessions to make sure they are still taking place as scheduled.

District Negotiators Propose Mediation:

"Lack Good Faith Effort to Mediate Resolution"

BTU-EP / January 28, 2010 – Again, after 26 sessions District officials came to the negotiations table without an economic proposal that would provide a minimal cost of living salary increase or address the staggering skyrocket in dependent health insurance premiums by up to 45 percent.

BTU Chief Negotiator Dane Ramson reports district negotiators submitted a counterproposal to Article 29, Union Rights concerning steward release days. They modified their original diminution of days, looking to decrease steward release days from six to two. Today’s proposal was to have four release days from their original two. Members should be advised that the collective bargaining agreement currently provides for six steward release days. Union negotiators’ counterproposal maintains current provisions.

Union negotiators expected district negotiators would return to the table with a counterproposal regarding the Union’s Appendix, Retirement Incentive Program. The District’s Chief Negotiator Susan Dumala stated that the information is being reviewed by the district’s Benefits Department and at “first blush” it did not seem cost effective. Union officials shared hard data and documentation substantiating last year’s cost and reflecting a minimum of $1.5 million in savings upon implementation.

The district negotiator’s proposal to increase the workload of all high school teachers from five of seven hours to six of seven, which would result in a reduction of hundreds of positions, remains active. Union negotiators continue to fight the district negotiators’ proposal to dramatically change employee rights, transfer provisions and working conditions under the pretense of the Differentiated Accountability Program.

District negotiators have requested the union consider mediation. Mediation is an alternative dispute resolution process, facilitated by a neutral third party during which the parties in good faith, attempt to mutually resolve outstanding issues. It is important to note that there must be a sincere good faith effort to mediate.

“Unfortunately, the atmosphere at the negotiation table this year has been riddled with deception, dishonesty, division and a clear absence of concern for the welfare of the education professionals of the School Board of Broward County,” Ramson said. “However, remaining ever so hopeful, we put the district’s request to the test.”

Ramson said union negotiators proffered a proposal which has already been approved by the Contract Administration Committee process and would have absolutely no economic impact upon implementation. This proposal merely codified an existing practice, requiring union officials to notify administrators when entering the worksite. Acceptance thereof would have shown a scintilla of good faith, and a sincere desire to mediate. It was explained in the above manner. Even so, district negotiators resoundingly and simplistically rejected the proposal with “NO.”

The next session will take place from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 11 at Atlantic Technical Center.

No contract agreement or salary increase, but:

School Board slaps Notter and begins cleaning "house of cronies"

BTU-EP / January 15, 2010 – Superintendent Jim Notter continues to use his best union busting cronies, Director of Employee Relations Susan Dumala, to demonstrate he continues to not value Broward schools’ education professionals or their students. The school board commenced to "clean house" amongst the district's top executives. Even so, the superintendent’s mean spirited negotiations proposals do not reflect respect for workers' rights.

“Every member has a vested interest in the ongoing contract negotiations because all employees are being attacked,” BTU President Pat Santeramo said. “Rarely have so many employee rights been under assault by Notter and his retired-rehired friends.”

Following this week’s negotiations session, BTU-EP Chief Negotiator Dane Ramson reported that it is clear that Notter appears to have no real interest in reaching any kind of contract agreement. He continues to try and use and manipulate the challenging economic times to further his own personal agenda that does not include the best interests of employees and students. Fortunately, school board members recently provided him with a substantial set back when they voted against participating in the federal Race to the Top grant program. This program would have potentially furthered his efforts to weaken the effectiveness of the contract.

In addition to offering no economic nor salary increase proposals, Notter wants teachers to give up the right to vote for their own school schedules. He claims the schedule change would save the district $35 million dollars. Even so, he has failed to tell school board members, employees and parents that it will result in even more employees losing their jobs.

Notter wants total control and the ability to micro-manage schools. This district proposal will result in changing schedules from five of seven instructional hours, or block schedules, to six of seven hours with no additional compensation.

The superintendent and none of the district’s negotiators have indicated if any of the savings will go to compensate employees for the workload increase. Union negotiators continue fighting this attack.

The union’s negotiators keep trying to beat back, Notter’s efforts to strip the contract of employee rights against involuntary transfers. District officials have proposed that they be given the right to involuntarily transfer any and all employees who have experienced success in increasing student achievement to Differentiated Accountability (DA) schools. At the same time, they also want to transfer those teachers who, according to them, are not performing at the highest levels to the district's higher rated schools.

They also want to prevent such employees, merely because they are “successful,” from transferring from the DA school back to their “home” worksite or any other location for three years. Union negotiators are expending tremendous efforts to fight these draconian district attacks on employee rights. The district's desire to play musical chairs with employee assignments is purely punitive in nature.

"Fortunately, school board members seem to have started to recognize that Notter's mismanagement of the district's budget and infrastructure is hurting their chances of getting re-elected," Ramson said. "As we celebrate the life of Martin Luther King, it is sad to observe that Notter's respect for works' rights continually fails to keep up with Dr. King's efforts to increase, not decrease, civil rights."

Negotiators for each side have now met for twenty-five sessions. The entire contract is open for negotiations. What remains especially cruel is Notter’s use of the economic crisis as an excuse not to provide employees with even the smallest raise despite his blatant waste of millions of tax dollars. While he regularly threatens additional employee layoffs, district documents prove he has maintained the ranks of the school system’s administrators. In some cases, they have been increased.

According to district records, the school system now has 793 fewer teachers. This is a difference of approximately $45.7 million in salaries. Half of these savings alone would help pay for a salary increase. Employees have been laid off and teachers forced to retire from DROP, which Ramson described as being paramount to termination without just cause. Yet, Notter and his district cronies continue to show no compassion for the anxiety they are imposing not only on all employees, but also on their families and the community as a whole.

Negotiators discussed Appendix J, which is a Memorandum of Understanding concerning the Broward Teacher Corp Program. District negotiators wanted to delete it. They alleged it to be no longer valid. However, union negotiators asked for specific information, but district negotiators did not comply with this request. It is important to note that the union’s request for information regarding the number of teachers impacted was made at least three months ago and district negotiators have not been forthcoming with said info. As such, they agreed to withdraw their proposal to delete and discontinue this benefit, returning it to current language. Although fewer teachers will be eligible, union negotiators have saved the program for some employees.

Union negotiators submitted another counter proposal on Appendix N, Retirement Incentive Program. District negotiators have consistently rejected this proposal although it would save the school system money. This makes no sense. Proposal modifications made include deleting the $10,000 incentive. The new proposal also disallows teachers in DROP from participating.

Union leaders continue to pursue legal action against the district as result of dependent health insurance premiums increasing by up to 45 percent. Negotiators discussed premium payment discrepancies for some members who have dependent care. It was shared that some members have not had deductions taken from their paychecks and some have.

Members are legitimately concerned that the district will deduct more than one premium from their paycheck leaving them in an economic bind. Employee Relations Specialist Dorothy Davis was assigned to research this issue by talking to the district’s Benefits Department to insure that this does not occur.

School board members continue to make important changes in the district’s leadership structure. In the last twelve months, they have accepted the “retirements” of Associate Superintendent of Human Resources Lynn Strong, Professional Standards and SIU Director Joe Melita, and Building and Facilities Director Michael Garretson. Despite his request, they refused to extend the contract of the district’s chief legal counsel, Edward Marko, beyond one year. They have also suspended and reassigned both directors, Lucille Green and Ruben Parker, of the district’s transportation department.

Union leaders urge the school board members to continue “cleaning house” and to not stop with these individuals. It would be in all members' best interest if Notter’s bureaucrats were replaced by executives who can better advise the school board and properly balance the district’s $2 billion operations and $1.5 billion capital budgets without laying off employees. All remaining employees deserve a cost of living salary increase.

“Our district desperately needs a real superintendent who doesn’t just talk about ‘team’ work, but respects the rights of the 'team' members,” Ramson said.

In other minor negotiation areas, the two teams agreed to return to the original language in Article 9 that concerns election of dept chairs, after BTU negotiators withdrew the union’s proposal. Union negotiators also formally withdrew Appendix G, Retirement Committee, in its entirety whereas they had done so orally at a prior session.

The next negotiations session will take place at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 28 at the BTU office in Tamarac.

Negotiations Moving Forward

BTU-EP / December 10, 2009 – The district signed a tentative agreement to the BTU's proposal on Article 23-S regarding Family and Medical Leave Act during this week’s negotiations. The tentative agreement includes the amendments to the federal legislation and will positively impact our members by allowing the leave to be taken intermittently with few exceptions.

All proposals for the below listed articles were withdrawn by the BTU, and the District tentatively agreed to return to current contract language. The Chief Negotiator was dismayed that an agreement could not be reached on some of these proposals, especially in light of the fact that these proposals had no economic impact.

- Article 5D - Duty Free Lunch

- Article 5E - Length or Workday

- Article 24B - EAP Procedures

- Article 24F - Mitigation, EAP

- Article 29K - Reports at Faculty Meetings

- Article 29S - Contract Enforcement

- Article 35A - Training Plan, New Student to District, and Students Placed with Volunteer Teachers.

The union would like to thank all of the stewards who came to Atlantic Technical Center to support our negotiations team. The next negotiations session will be held at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 14, 2010, at the BTU Office in Tamarac. Members with comments, questions or concerns about BTU-EP negotiations should call Ramson by telephone at 954-486-6250 Ext. 228 or via e-mail at dramson@btuonline.com.

Struck with Body Tremors and Shakes; Red-Faced

School Board's Chief Negotiator Dumala Flees Contract Talks

BTU-EP / December 1, 2009 – Broward schools continue to spiral out of control due solely to Superintendent Jim Notter’s inability to lead the district and Director of Employee Relations Susan Dumala's lack of required skills to bring to a close contract negotiations between each of the BTU’s three bargaining units. Recently, Notter and Dumala convinced other employee groups to turn on their own colleagues and end their contract talks only because their agreements rely on the false belief that if the BTU is successful in negotiating salary increases, they will automatically receive the raises too.

Without much needed leadership from Notter and school board members who he apparently is keeping in the dark and uninformed about contract talks, Director of Employee Relations and District Chief Negotiator Susan Dumala has repeatedly demonstrated she does not have the authority or support to negotiate a contract agreement. After playing such a key role in the disaster Notter has created not only in negotiations but in managing the district’s budget, Dumala can seemingly only hope school board members will ultimately allow her to resign or, better yet, retire like the school system’s chief legal counsel Edward Marko and now Deputy Superintendent Michael Garretson.

Although school employees have repeatedly pointed out tens of millions of dollars in waste that could be cut and savings that could be used to bring the contract talks to a close, Notter and Dumala appear completely ignorant of the district’s budget and where to find money to pay the school system’s hard-working employees. They fail to follow even the simple budget cutting basics practiced for years by countless other organizations such as cutting non-essential travel and overtime pay.

After wasting millions of tax dollars that could be used to save jobs to overbuild school additions, it has apparently taken Notter more than a year to consider cutting his losses by consolidating partially empty schools, many of which share students from adjoining neighborhoods. Despite repeatedly claiming the district is in a financial crisis, he would rather send dedicated workers to the unemployment line than educate parents concerned about much-needed boundary changes.

It would be seemingly impossible and defies common sense for school board members to not question why Notter and Dumala cannot bring the contract talks to a close with the district’s $2 billion operations budget and increased flexibility in using the school system’s $1.5 billion capital budget. They have to be wondering if Notter and Dumala have most wisely used the $200 million in federal stimulus funds to create, retain and save jobs. Anyone with knowledge of the district’s history must be questioning whether Notter has the skills to work with school board members and Dumala to bring to an end the labor unrest that permeates virtually every level of district operations and negotiations.

With the school system’s building department under the watchful eye of the FBI and its operations being scrutinized by a federal grand jury, Notter and Dumala’s inability to manage the district and its employees now appear to be spreading to the transportation department. Still reeling from the construction department’s problems, employees have expressed angst that the transportation department’s directors have been reassigned pending an SIU investigation of allegations reportedly ranging from sexual harassment to taking kickbacks in exchange for jobs to employees working on election campaigns during scheduled work hours. While the BTU hopes these allegations prove false and continues to try to verify them, Notter and Dumala appear to be increasingly desperate to circle the wagons around the school board members and maintain control by playing the blame game. When that doesn’t work, they simply stall in hopes the mess they have created will somehow go away. If that doesn’t work, then they intercept and block e-mails from employees trying to communicate with the school board members.

During the last negotiations session, Dumala demonstrated how out of control the situation Notter created has become when she actually appeared to begin tremoring during the contract talks and turned red in the face. Finally, unable to maintain herself, she walked away from the bargaining table. Sympathetic to her lack of control, union negotiators urged her to return, but without any support from Notter or the school board members, she seemingly knew it would be fruitless and refused. Since negotiations began in late summer, Dumala has never appeared to have the authority to actually negotiate and as a result has repeatedly arrived unprepared for contract talks.

According to BTU-EP Chief Negotiator Dane Ramson, when union negotiators attempted to simply list the issues that Dumala promised to follow up on and bring Notter’s answers back to the negotiations table, Dumala began to quiver and shake stating that union negotiators “just want to point fingers.” While the union’s negotiators remain sensitive to Dumala who like most of the district’s top leaders must be incredibly embarrassed and distracted by the FBI’s corruption probe, they maintain their commitment to reaching an agreement for all union members.

“Community leaders, taxpayers and voters alike have finally started to really wonder what is happening in our school district,” Ramson said. “When Notter and Dumala can’t even come close to balancing the budget while paying employees modest cost-of-living increases, despite receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in stimulus funds, it’s no wonder people have really begun to question their abilities.”

Before Dumala, however minor, lost control of her body functions and left the table, Ramson simply wanted to delineate specific instances where she, even with the limited authority granted to her by Notter, could have reached tentative agreements. It became overwhelmingly clear that she has consciously chosen to stall that process.

Specifically:

1 - Article 23, Teacher Directed Improvement Fund includes the process for modification of distribution of these funds. That process was adhered to and when brought to the negotiation table, Dumala modified the committees work and added an additional hurdle. She had no authority to modify ex post facto. She did so disingenuously by requiring principal authorization for “teacher” directed funds.

Her condescending response was that the principal’s require more control of employees and that she knew union negotiators would never accept such a blatant display of disrespect toward workers. While Dumula merely needed to accept the collaborative approved work of the committee, she did not. To add fuel to the fire, it took approximately 17 negotiation sessions, with her promising to look into it, only to receive no response.

2 - Article 30, Contract Administration Committee also contains an established process. Pursuant to this process, the parties agreed to modify the language in Article 29 requiring “notification” for school visitation by union officials rather than “authorization.” Negotiators for each side conducted extended conversation and what appeared to be a meeting of the minds and an understanding of the CAC process. Again, Dumala backpedaled and unilaterally rejected the work of the committee.

Additionally, Director of Field Services George Segna has requested copies of the CAC minutes that she was required to complete and distribute in a timely manner. This was more than a year ago and to date, the simple request has not been met.

When informed of Dumala’s repeated failure, even Associate Superintendent of Human Resources Lynn Strong appeared dismayed. Strong remembered bringing this issue to closure. As a member of the Contract Administration Committee she recalled the joint recommendation that should have resulted in bringing this issue to closure. Again, Dumala did not accept the committee’s work, violating an established practice and negotiated provisions.

3 - Differentiated Accountability was discussed months ago on July 23 and July 30. District negotiators presented in-house experts. The two teams orally agreed to work collaboratively and to place the issue and related concerns in a committee coupled with the student-teacher ratio for Alternative to Expulsion Centers. After waiting months for a response, on October 14, Ramson submitted a memorandum of understanding to the above effect. Dumala not only did not sign the agreement, she strangely stated she didn’t even remember discussing it.

“The most egregious waste committed during the last two years is to the students of those teachers who are on our negotiations team. These teachers are very dedicated and are becoming increasingly frustrated that they are coming to a table, where out of 22 sessions, less than half have been neither necessary nor fruitful because Dumala is coming to the table unprepared,” Ramson said.

According to the Broward schools website, Dumala appears to be covering up her apparent inability to negotiate in good faith by blaming the union for frequently asking to leave negotiations early for Dumala’s own apparent doctor appointments, lack of preparation and lack of authorization to make decisions. Despite these false statements on the website, union negotiators sat back and watched Dumala walk away from the negotiations, once again, during the last round of contract talks.

Union leaders and negotiators remain most embarrassed by Dumala’s claims that she takes direction from the school board members. Based on comments from school board members, they clearly are unaware that their chief negotiator regularly arrives for contract talks unprepared.

It appears Dumala wants union negotiators to believe that school board members have directed her to arrive for contract talks unprepared and to repeatedly stall the process. Union negotiators understand school board members can only advise upon issues that are brought to their attention.

“If Dumala’s preparation for meetings with school board members is analogous to her unprofessional conduct at the negotiation table, it’s no wonder they can’t figure out why labor relations and contract talks have spun so out of control. Our district needs a superintendent who can provide Dumala with the guidance and supervision she so desperately needs and obviously lacks,” Ramson said.

The next BTU-EP negotiations session will be held at 2:30 p.m. at the BTU office on December 3. Members with comments, questions or concerns about BTU-EP negotiations should call Ramson by telephone at 954-486-6250 Ext. 228 or via e-mail at dramson@btuonline.com.

District Negotiators Suggest Mediation

BTU-EP / November 12, 2009 – During this week’s contract negotiations, district negotiators requested both parties resume negotiations in mediation, which requires mutual agreement. District negotiators who once again arrived at the table with no salary increase proposal must believe a mediator will accept their cry of poverty and ignore the fact that they continue to waste millions of tax dollars.

BTU-EP Chief Negotiator Dane Ramson said district officials have continually shown a lack of good faith bargaining during this year’s contract negotiations. It's clear they have no intention of actually negotiating. They simply want to repeatedly cry "poor" and hope if they say it enough everyone will believe them. Fortunately, employees, parents and taxpayers only shake their heads in disbelieve every time district officials claim they cannot find money in their $2 billion dollar operations budget to provide a salary increase.

“School Board negotiators have refused to accept language recommended by the TDIF Committee and language recommended by the Contract Administration Committee,” Ramson said. “School Board Chief Negotiator Susan Dumala has continued to renege and recant on agreed upon proposals when it came time to sign.”

According to article 23 of the BTU-EP contract, the TDIF committee is authorized to issue a recommendation to the BTU president and associate superintendent of human resources. However, following the committee’s recommendation, district negotiators refused to accept the provision. Instead, they submitted a counterproposal, stating that “the district wants more control” and requesting that principals receive authority over TDIF funds.

The following provisions were tentatively agreed on during negotiations:

Article 22J – Insurance/ Cafeteria Insurance Program
Article 23C – Verification of Leave
Article F – Legal Commitments
Article L – Continuing Insurance Coverage While on Leave and Teaching Position While on Leave
Article P – Replacement Teacher

The next BTU-EP negotiations session will be held at 2:30 p.m. at the Atlantic Technical Center on December 3. Members with comments, questions or concerns about BTU-EP negotiations should call Ramson by telephone at 954-486-6250 Ext. 228 or via e-mail at dramson@btuonline.com.

District Remains Unprepared to Discuss Finances with ESP Negotiators

BTU-ESP / November 10, 2009 – Negotiators for the School Board of Broward County were again unprepared to discuss any financial package with the ESP bargaining team during this week’s negotiations. The two parties did, however, agree on the advanced degree incentive memo, checklist and application for education support employees.

Negotiations began with district negotiators distributing their rough draft of article one. Both parties agreed that Field Staff Representative and Negotiator Iris Froehlich would contact PERC regarding the official process for amending and adding classifications.

Negotiators for the School Board also informed Froehlich that they did not want the position for teacher tutors to be recognized in the BTU-ESP recognition clause as they didn’t have a job description for the position. Froehlich responded that she would personally provide district negotiators with a copy of the job description. Froehlich also requested the language in article 17 be cleaned up as the emotionally handicapped cluster was formerly referred to as the emotional behavioral disability cluster.

Union negotiators have asked that the following issues be deferred to the Labor/Management Committee for review:

· A salary dispute between job coaches and community-based instruction

· Work schedule, cell phones, grant funding and property damage issues of parent educators

· Tying incentive points accumulated through professional development workshops to Career Ladder

The ESP bargaining team additionally requested a list of all education assistants, teacher tutors, even start, social educators and community social workers from the district for review.

The date of the next BTU-ESP negotiations session has not been determined by district officials. As more information becomes available it will be communicated to all members. Comments, questions or concerns about BTU-EP negotiations should be directed to Ramson by telephone at 954-486-6250 Ext. 228 or via e-mail at dramson@btuonline.com.

Charter Schools and Union Reach Contract Agreement; Both Sides Stave Off Double Impasse in Two-Year Dispute

IMPORTANT NOTE: All BTU-CSP bargaining unit members will receive complete details of the contract tentative agreement including a proposed salary schedule on Monday (November 9, 2009) morning via e-mail. All BTU-CSP bargaining unit members will have the opportunity vote electronically to approve or disapprove the contract tentative agreement on Thursday (November 12, 2009) and Friday (November 13, 2009). Union staff will be scheduling meetings at schools so members can ask questions about the tentative agreement. Times, dates and locations of the informational meetings will be sent to all members beginning Monday morning.

BTU-CSP / November 4, 2009 – One day before negotiators for the City of Pembroke Pines Charter Schools and Broward Teachers Union were to argue their positions in front of a special magistrate in an unprecedented double impasse hearing, the two sides worked late into the evening Wednesday to reach a contract tentative agreement for the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 school years.

BTU President Pat Santeramo said union and city negotiators worked late into the evening Wednesday night in order to reach a tentative agreement making it one of the few school systems in the state to bring their negotiations to a close with a salary increase. The tentative agreement assures all Pembroke Pines charter school teachers step movement on the municipality’s salary schedule for the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 school years.

Union negotiators also successfully negotiated a reduction in the number of steps in the salary schedule to 17 so the charter school teachers will reach the school system’s higher salaries earlier in their career. This significantly increases their career earnings compared to virtually all other districts in the state that average at least 20 salary schedule steps.

“Pembroke Pines Charter Schools and the Broward Teachers Union have become leaders in Broward County and Florida by reaching this tentative agreement,” Santeramo said. “With the reduction in steps in the salary schedule, the charter school teachers will become amongst the best paid education professionals in the state.”

The new starting salary for Pembroke Pines charter school teachers will be $39,000 and the new top salary will be $71,250. The two sides also agreed to pay a one-time amount of $650 dollars to 18 teachers who were on step 20 for the 07-08 school year and did not move a step on the salary schedule.

Santeramo said union negotiators achieved new contract language that provides first year charter school teachers with increased feedback two times per year from their administrators. He added the contract language was important to the union because the organization has made a priority of assisting all teachers in their professional development.

“Considering the economic downturn, this agreement proves school districts can offer education professionals contract agreements when they make their employees a priority,” BTU-CSP Chief Negotiator Jamie Daniels said. “With the elimination of a step from the salary schedule, nearly all of the Pembroke Pines charter school teachers will now be earning higher salaries than those who work for Broward’s traditional public schools.”

An important part of the agreement stipulates that the Broward Teachers Union rescind its declaration of impasse for the 2008-2009 school year and the City of Pembroke Pines rescind its declaration of impasse for the 2009-2010 school year. As a result, the impasse hearing set to begin on Thursday, November 5 was cancelled.

Pembroke Pines’ 300 charter school teachers will have the opportunity to review the details of the tentative agreement early next week and will vote electronically beginning Thursday, November 12. City commissioners will vote on the agreement on Tuesday, November 17.

"City officials rightfully made their employees and students a budget priority in order to bring the contract talks to a close. It's no wonder so many education professionals and parents of students are choosing charter schools over Broward's traditional public schools," Santeramo said.

Contract talks for all of BTU’s members who work for the School Board of Broward County continue. The negotiations team representing BTU-Education Support Professionals will meet on November 10 at Atlantic Technical Center. Negotiators representing BTU-Education Professionals will meet on November 12 at the BTU office. Negotiators for the BTU-Technical Support Professionals and district officials have agreed to suspend their contract talks until Broward schools instructional staff reach an agreement.

District: Still no money for education professionals

BTU-EP / October 30, 2009 – District negotiators continued to offer no movement on salary and wages during this week’s contract negotiations.

“The district has been consistently using stalling tactics during our negotiations sessions. School Board negotiators have shown their lack of honesty, integrity and good-faith bargaining,” BTU-EP Chief Negotiator Dane Ramson said.

The School Board Chief Negotiator Susan Dumala suggested that education professionals submit a statement along with Teacher Directed Improvement Fund requests showing that the requests align with the School Improvement Plan and the District Strategic plan. Ramson said the request is ludicrous and extends beyond Dumala’s scope of authority.

Union negotiators amended their TDIF counterproposal to expand the applicant pool. The proposed amendment mandates that the applicants chosen for Workshop & Conference funds will alternate between highest and lowest seniority. Ramson said the change will facilitate a more equitable usage of TDIF funds.

The BTU-EP Negotiations Team additionally resubmitted the Memorandum of Understanding, which creates a subcommittee to research and recommend guidelines for both the implementation of Differentiated Accountability and the student-teacher ratio at Alternative to External Suspension Centers. Members can read the district's Article 36 DA contract proposal here.

The two teams tentatively agreed on article seven of the contract regarding medical procedures, which states that bargaining unit members shall not be assigned responsibility for administering medical procedures or dispensing medication to students.

Union negotiators agreed to meet with School Board budget personnel to get financial questions answered. BTU-EP Negotiations Team Member Annie Feldman will chair the subcommittee.

As district negotiators stated that they will not be able to meet for negotiations on November 5, the next negotiations session will be on November 12 from 2:00-6:00 p.m. at the BTU in Tamarac. The negotiations session on November 19 will be moved to Atlantic Technical Center. Members with comments, questions or concerns about BTU-EP negotiations should call Ramson by telephone at 954-486-6250 Ext. 228 or via e-mail at dramson@btuonline.com.

Negotiators Fight for Compensation and Worker Rights

BTU-ESP / October 27, 2009 –Negotiators for the School Board of Broward County supplied BTU-Education Support Professionals with information and a cost analysis of a “perfect attendance award” during this week’s negotiations. After costing out the union’s proposal, district negotiators report that it would cost approximately $135,000 to implement, less than the salary of the recently retired-rehired Deputy Superintendent of Educational Programs and Student Support. Approximately 536 education support professionals would qualify for the award.

“This proposal is an acknowledgement of the high level of professionalism of our education support professionals,” BTU-ESP Chief Negotiator Dane Ramson said. “It is troubling that other organizations have this incentive award in place for employees who do not even have direct care or responsibility for children. We are not suggesting anything that is not deserved!”

The two parties tentatively agreed to a discrimination provision for the BTU-ESP contract, which the union’s negotiations team said is long overdue.

“The district has historically mistreated, ignored and subordinated the rights of education support professionals. I am saddened that in 2009 the District is only now agreeing to include language in the contract that was promulgated by the Civil Rights Act in 1964!” Ramson said.

The ESP negotiations team is still waiting for a cost analysis from the district regarding the financial savings from reducing the ESP calendar from 196 to 186 work days.

District Negotiators Continue Stall Tactics

BTU-EP / October 22, 2009 – School Board Chief Negotiator Susan Dumala and her team of district negotiators, again, came to the negotiations table with no proposals.

BTU-EP Chief Negotiator Dane Ramson said Dumala added “insult to injury,” when she said the district’s negotiators were not in a position to offer counterproposals on issues the two teams had conceptually agreed to and had expected the district’s negotiators to return with a counterproposal.

Specifically, the union negotiators expected a district response to BTU’s proposal regarding Family Medical Leave that provides for incremental usage. However, district negotiators have been inconsistent and repugnant to the legislature’s intent that opened the door to the union’s proposal. District officials want to protect their right to disparately grant and even sometimes deny otherwise qualified applicants the right to incremental usage. District negotiators agreed that the FMLA law allows incremental usage and on more than one occasion the parties have discussed this issue with the appearance of reaching a tentative agreement.

The parties did, however, agree to form a subcommittee for the purpose of responding to the union negotiators’ numerous requests for financial data and questions regarding budgetary reporting information. Not surprisingly considering the ongoing federal corruption probe, previous union requests for financial information and official answers have gone completely unanswered or partially answered. Several times, the information provided by the district’s negotiations team has been outdated or inaccurate.

“The district’s failure to provide requested documents has been extremely frustrating and thwarts the negotiation process,” Ramson said. “They know that we cannot negotiate in good faith without complete and accurate financial information.”

She added despite union negotiators successfully meeting Dumala’s request for the BTU to show her where the money for raises could be found in the budget, she has yet to provide a salary increase proposal. Like Notter who loves to “cry poor” in the local media, she has been unable to supply data that refutes the union’s claims that officials are squandering tens of millions of tax dollars that could otherwise be used for employee raises.

“It is crystal clear that Notter and Dumala are purposely employing elementary stalling tactics. District negotiators have purposefully diminished the principles of good faith bargaining and collaborative contract talks,” Ramson said.

The next BTU-EP negotiations session will be held from 2:30-6:00 p.m. on October 29 at the Broward Teachers Union in Tamarac. Members with comments, questions or concerns about BTU-EP negotiations should call Ramson by telephone at 954-486-6250 Ext. 228 or via e-mail at dramson@btuonline.com.

District Negotiators Propose Laying Off

500 More Teachers by Increasing Workloads

NEGOTIATIONS POWERPOINT PRESENTATION (Low Resolution PDF / Adobe Acrobat Required)

Tentative Agreement Matrix

BTU-EP / October 15, 2009 – Contract negotiations continued with a presentation by Jane Turner of the district’s Budget Department. No new information was revealed and her appearance at the negotiations session appeared to be nothing more than a stall tactic by the district’s negotiations team. But interestingly, it backfired.

BTU Negotiator (Second Chair) Ralph Eckhardt said Turner revealed for the first time that district officials have not taken advantage of new legislation passed by the state, which would allow the district cut tens of millions of dollars in waste in the school system’s capital budget and transfer .25 mills to the operating budget. She said school board members had not acted on the option to date.

District negotiators stated they would rather increase the work load of all high school teachers, which would save the district $35 million by eliminating the jobs, according to district documents, of 500 teachers. Student learning would be dramatically impacted by reducing the remaining teachers’ instructional schedule from five of seven hours to six of seven hours. The teachers would lose invaluable planning and professional development time in lieu of the district cutting waste from other areas of the district’s budget.

Turner spent a majority of her time talking about capital funding that made no sense to the issue of teacher salary and step increase financial funding. It appeared that she and her fellow officials are so caught up in construction corruption that she was taking the opportunity to practice for an FBI interview.

Many teachers know that corruption exists within the administration of the school district. Turner revealed how true this really is.

Eckhardt asked whether the school board has considered a .25 mills transfer from capital to the district’s operating funding. District officials responded that it was discussed but not acted on.

BTU negotiators then began firing a series of questions about the district’s budget and finances. They asked over 70 questions, so many that district officials could not respond during the meeting. It was understood that these will be addressed through a sub-committee with written and emailed answers.

Further, BTU has additional questions on the 2009-10 District Budget document to ask budget officials. The challenge has been that we have attempted to ask these questions throughout the negotiations process and school board negotiators have not cooperated by giving true or accurate responses.

For example, they talk about saving $35 million by increasing the instructional workload of high school teachers from five to seven hours to six of seven hours, but they do not talk about the savings coming from the elimination of 500 teachers. Negotiators find it unfathomable that they would seriously consider hurting student learning and laying off even more employees before transferring a .25 mill from the capital to operations budget.

Employees in the district’s construction and facilities department have identified nearly $40 million in waste that could be cut simply by changing the way the school system bids construction projects. Specifically, other projects such as the $7 million budgeted for the Ely High School football stadium could be postponed until the economy recovers.

To date, district officials have cut few, if any, of the wasteful spending proposed by employees for elimination and savings. The employee’s recommendations have been virtually ignored. District officials have opted instead to layoff employees (67 teachers remain laid off according to the district), hire more retired administrators and divert insurance premium increases for individual employees to those who pay for dependent coverage.

Negotiators did tentatively agree to eight issues at the end of the session, which includes the following: summer school four day workweek, current language on the number of early release days will remain, current language on teacher CAB use while on leave will remain, current language on steward presentation time of ten minutes at faculty meetings will remain, current language on union insignia will remain, current language on steward harassment remain, current language on BTU pool days and current language on release time for stewards will remain for ratification.

The meeting ended with BTU negotiators clearly seeing that the district’s negotiators want to divide and conquer teachers by pitting high school teachers against all other employees. It is clear by their budgetary decisions and failure to cut waste that they do not care about employees.

The next BTU-EP negotiations session will be held from 2:30-6:00 p.m. on October 22 at the Atlantic Technical Center. Members with comments, questions or concerns about BTU-EP negotiations should call Ramson by telephone at 954-486-6250 Ext. 228 or via e-mail at dramson@btuonline.com.

Technical Support Professionals Suspend Negotiations

BTU-TSP / October 14, 2009 – The BTU-TSP Negotiations Team suspended further negotiations until after educational professionals settle their contract with the district after meeting with School Board negotiators.

BTU-TSP Chief Negotiator Jerrod Neal said that yet again, nothing was accomplished at negotiations. Despite the BTU-TSP Negotiations Team’s attempts to move forward in negotiations, Neal said that the district continues to offer nothing to technical support professionals.

“I asked the School Board negotiators what they were really trying to accomplish in negotiations, and they could not give me a firm answer,” Neal said. “Basically, our unit will be offered whatever the BTU-EP unit negotiates as far as insurance and salary increases. The district is unwilling to meet with us on any other issues, and negotiations as they are going are a complete waste of time.”

Neal said that because the BTU-TSP unit’s contract language is already so strong, he will be satisfied if it remains status quo as long as insurance and salary increases are agreed upon. The next BTU-TSP Negotiations session will be announced following the settlement of the 2009-2010 BTU-EP Contract.

The chief negotiator for the BTU-TSP Unit is Field Staff Representative Jerrod Neal. Members with comments, questions or concerns about BTU-TSP negotiations should call Neal by telephone at 954-486-6250 Ext. 231 or via e-mail at jneal@btuonline.com.

District Finally Furnishes Documents

BTU-ESP / October 13, 2009 – Negotiators for the School Board of Broward County finally furnished information specifying the financial impact and cost of a step schedule increase for BTU-Education Support Professionals, but no progress was made in terms of negotiating much needed raises. The BTU-ESP bargaining unit is composed of approximately 2,393 employees.

BTU-ESP Chief Negotiator Dane Ramson stated that the financial information would be brought to the BTU Executive Financial Team for review. BTU President Pat Santeramo, FEA Bargaining Specialist Steve Fischer, AFT Research and Information Services Director Jewell Gould and CPA Steve Wood comprise the union’s executive financial team.

Ramson also asked district negotiators if they were going to present an economic proposal. School Board Chief Negotiator Susan Cooper responded that “she had no authority to do so at this point.” Ramson expressed her frustration with having district negotiators at the table who do not have the authority to enter into agreement. She requested that the district bring someone with authority to the
negotiations table.

Negotiators for the School Board and BTU-ESP negotiators tentatively agreed on the following articles:

• Article 15: Employee Reimbursement – Reimbursement will increase from $200 to $250 for any loss, damage or destruction of clothing or personal property.

• Article 6: Terms and Conditions of Employment – Language changed so paraprofessionals always referred to as Educational Support Professionals.

District negotiators and the BTU-ESP Bargaining Team agreed to produce a form for the advance degree incentive memo, checklist and application for education support professionals. BTU negotiators anticipate finalizing the form and process guidelines at the next negotiations session.

The next BTU-ESP negotiations session will be held on October 27 at the BTU Office in Tamarac from 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Members with comments, questions or concerns about BTU-EP negotiations should call Ramson by telephone at 954-486-6250 Ext. 228 or via e-mail at dramson@btuonline.com.

District: No Money for Teachers

NEGOTIATIONS POWERPOINT PRESENTATION (Low Resolution PDF / Adobe Acrobat Required)

BTU-EP / October 8, 2009 – Despite union efforts to reach collaborative tentative agreements with district negotiators, none could be agreed upon during this week’s negotiations.

“The District's Chief Negotiator Susan Dumala admittedly had no authority to enter into any agreements nor make an offer regarding salary increases,” BTU-EP Chief Negotiator Dane Ramson said. “Her canned response to all proposals continued to be ‘I will get back to you.’”

Ramson said Dumala made it clear that the School Board did not authorize any wage proposals in its last closed-door session.

“These are very disturbing times when fiscal waste and personal agendas are paramount to caring and appropriating for the foundation of public education. District Superintendent Jim Notter and several School Board members have forgotten from whence they came and are subordinating education, specifically teachers,” Ramson said.

She continued that BTU Communications had pointed out millions of dollars in district waste following Notter’s request that the union show him where money could be found for raises. Granting teachers’ raises, Ramson said, was obviously not Notter’s real priority. Members can view the presentation at the top of the front page of www.BTUonline.com or negotiations news section.

The next BTU-EP negotiations session will be held on October 29 at the BTU Office in Tamarac from 2:30-6:00 p.m. Members with comments, questions or concerns about BTU-EP negotiations should call Ramson by telephone at 954-486-6250 Ext. 228 or via e-mail at dramson@btuonline.com.

District Still Offers Nothing to TSP Negotiators

BTU-TSP / September 30, 2009 – The BTU-TSP Negotiations Team and negotiators for the School Board of Broward County met again to discuss proposals brought up during the last negotiations session. BTU-TSP Chief Negotiator Jerrod Neal said that it came to no surprise that the School Board’s bargaining team brought nothing forth to offer.

“I find it hard to believe that after our negotiations team pulled some of our proposals off the table in a good faith effort to enable both parties to move forward, the district’s response remains the same,” Neal said.

The only thing the district’s negotiators proposed was a 24-month period during which an employee could be recalled, which had already been tentatively agreed upon with the BTU-EP negotiations team.

“Despite the recent change in attitudes and approach by the district’s negotiators, they continue to offer nothing to technical support professionals.” Neal said.

The next BTU-TSP negotiations will be from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. on October 14 at the BTU Office in Tamarac. The chief negotiator for the BTU-TSP Unit is Field Staff Representative Jerrod Neal. Members with comments, questions or concerns about BTU-TSP negotiations should call Neal by telephone at 954-486-6250 Ext. 231 or via e-mail at jneal@btuonline.com.

District Spending Spree Continues:

No Money for Teachers and Students

BTU-EP / October 1, 2009 – Union and school board negotiators spent most of the negotiations session today ensuring that all documents which have been tentatively agreed upon accurately reflect this status.

BTU-EP Chief Negotiator Dane Ramson said district negotiators failure to offer any money for raises and claims of “poverty” completely contradicts the spending habits of Superintendent Jim Notter. Just this week, he offered to pay for lawyers for any “officials” being interviewed by the investigators conducting the federal corruption probe into the district. Prior to that, he authorized several administrators to fly to Washington D.C. for an awards ceremony at taxpayer expense. Next week, he is proposing school board members approve paying $100,000 in rent for an empty building just so officials can use the parking lot.

“Notter continues to show what his real spending priorities are,” Ramson said. “It is clearly not the education professionals who work day in and day out with our students.”

She said union negotiators notified district officials of the BTU’s intent to present a counterproposal to Article 22, Insurance, at the next negotiations session on Thursday, October 8. District negotiators tried to play a “shell game” by suddenly stating they would not increase insurance premiums for the majority of individual employees. What they failed to mention is the increased costs were being diverted to those employees who have dependent coverage by increasing their premiums for dependent coverage by up to 40 percent.

Ramson said the union’s counter-proposal will require district officials to absorb some of the shifting cost of dependent and kiddy care plans. Union negotiators reiterated the need for a Healthcare Insurance Committee that is less skewed toward school board members and district officials.

The next negotiation’s session will be held from 2:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 8at the BTU office in Tamarac. All members are encouraged to attend as soon as the school day ends.

Union Proposes Insurance Committee Change: District Balks

BTU-ESP / September 29, 2009 – As the FBI’s corruption probe of Broward schools continues, BTU – Education Support Professionals negotiators demonstrated their support for President Pat Santeramo’s insistence that balance and integrity finally be included in the school system’s insurance committee.

BTU-ESP Chief Negotiator Dane Ramson said currently, the district’s insurance committee’s make up is heavily skewed with administrators and overly subject to the influence and pressure of school board members. If adopted, the union’s proposal would provide employees with equal representation in the review of health insurance proposals and give them a greater voice in the recommendation of insurance plans.

“The majority of employees who rely on the district’s health insurance to protect themselves and their families have the least amount of say in choosing the type and level of care they will receive,” Ramson said. “Any advisory committee review process consisting of school board members who then ultimately also vote on awarding the insurance contracts is fatally flawed.”

As if having federal agents going door-to-door interviewing district officials about corruption is not enough to make them question the way they have been operating, school board negotiators refused to accept the union negotiators’ proposal. Ultimately, Superintendent Jim Notter will have to step in and let employees know that he is serious about supporting an authentic process that reflects and embraces honest decision making. Union negotiators refuse to give up on their proposal.

In addition to fighting for positive change to the way the district reviews and approves contracts worth tens of millions of dollars, BTU-ESP negotiators remained disappointed that district negotiators, once again, arrived for contract talks with erroneous financial information. Despite being required by law to provide true and accurate public information, district negotiators continually fail to provide such data.

Even School Board Chief Negotiator Susan Cooper acknowledged inaccuracies in the documents that they had attempted to pass off as correct. She “promised” to bring a corrected scatter gram of financial data to the next negotiations session.

District negotiators accepted the union negotiators’ counterproposal to Article 15, Insurance, by agreeing to pay 100 percent of the health insurance premiums for HMO and Consumer Driven plans. Union negotiators intend to continue fighting for district officials to incur a portion of the cost for the shifted increase in dependent coverage and kiddy care.

Tentative agreements were reached on the following provisions:

Article 13 now provides –

1) Employees with their assignments for the upcoming calendar school year at least two weeks before the start of school absent any unforeseen circumstances.

2) Job progression – ESP’s will automatically progress within the bargaining unit based upon completion of one or more of the delineated prerequisites.

3) Promotions – the advancement of an employee to a higher job classification.

4) Hardship transfers options increased - from three to five schools.

When discussing guaranteed transfers, one of the district’s team members who is a principal, stated a guaranteed transfer could result in a hardship to the school. Specifically, the school incurs the training expense of getting the individual ESP certified in Professional Crisis Management and other non physical crisis intervention procedures. This certification carries with it a supplemental option of which management has chosen not to exercise. Even so, in the same voice, they acknowledged that ESPs are “grossly underpaid.”

The next session will start at 12:00 p.m. on October 13 at the Atlantic Technical Center. The chief negotiator for the BTU-ESP Unit is Field Staff Representative Dane Ramson who is also negotiating the teachers’ contract. Members with comments, questions or concerns about BTU-ESP negotiations should call Ramson by telephone at 954-486-6250 Ext. 228 or via e-mail at dramson@btuonline.com.

District Officials Standby Waste Rather than Raises;

Reveal Skyrocketing Dependent Health Insurance Rates

BTU-EP / September 24, 2009 – Union stewards turned out en masse to show their support for the BTU-Education Professionals Negotiations Team with nearly 80 people packing into the BTU’s union hall as union negotiators demanded a fair and equitable salary increase and district negotiators continued to claim they cannot afford raises. Embarrassingly for the district negotiators they were unaware as they made their claims that stewards entering the union hall were provided a list of district waste that amounts to well over $200 million – much of which could be used for raises.

BTU-EP Chief Negotiator reported the district negotiators’ arrogance was duly noted by School Board Chief Negotiator Susan Dumala’s posturing when she stated the district is taking the proposal for teachers to pay a portion of their own health insurance off the table. However, she failed to mention that district officials are merely shifting the cost to those employees in need of dependent care and/or the kids plan. While the cost of dependent care for members is skyrocketing, Dumala also didn’t mention that Superintendent Jim Notter’s own dependent, his wife, receives free district health insurance worth thousands of tax dollars.

BTU-EP Negotiator Annie Feldman who is also a benefits coordinator said the district’s plans for employees who have dependents appears to be increasing at least 35 percent. The district has begun circulating district-wide health insurance documents with the new rates. Open enrollment will begin on October 1.

“Ironically, we would have to live in a box not to be aware of what the district is doing,” Ramson said. “They seem to have forgotten that they are dealing with education professionals who have to count every penny they get.”

She announced President Pat Santeramo has withdrawn from the district’s health insurance committee in protest. He has called for the elimination of the Superintendent’s Insurance Advisory Committee due to blatant improprieties that took place in the last year. If it had not been for the tenacity and insistence of President Santeramo, district officials would not have even adhered to the school board’s own request for proposals (RFP) process. District officials reportedly went as far as trying to award a contract without going through the established RFP process.

Ramson said union negotiators accepted the district’s offer to continue paying for employee only premiums, but at the same time, counter-proposed the creation and implementation of a new Healthcare Insurance Committee. The purpose of this committee would be to discuss all issues regarding to healthcare. The proposed committee’s composition is better balanced between labor and management and excludes school board members who could possibly have hidden agendas or be subject to other influences.

Currently, the district’s health insurance committee is unevenly weighted with district administrators. Based on their voting records, they appear to have conflicts of interest due to their reporting directly to district officials who seem to unduly influence and dictate many of the committee members’ votes.

Shifting topics to salary increases, Dumala tried to “pull a fast one” on the union’s negotiators by claiming all of the district’s other units settled their contracts. Once again, she failed to mention that the agreements include a “me too clause.” This means they did not reach an agreement about salary increases, but rather will wait for the teachers’ negotiations team to do all of the work and fighting for whatever increase is possible and then they will take it without providing any support or effort.

“Her comment was an obvious elementary tactic to unsuccessfully try to cause division amongst the district’s employees. Her unprofessional posturing is consistent with the antiquated divide and conquer managerial style,” Ramson said.

She added that on more than one occasion during contract talks, Dumala stated School Board members now have a balanced budget. She could not explain what she meant by a “balanced” budget. She seemed to ignore the fact that the district’s budget included no money to help employees keep up – even a little – with South Florida’s cost of living increases.

“Dumala appeared to be flustered when asked to define a “balanced budget,” Ramson said. Dumala offered to have district officials come to the next negotiations session to explain the budget. However, when union negotiators requested the district’s Chief Financial Officer, Ben Leong, show up, she suddenly “backpedalled.”

Undeterred, union negotiators provided their modified economic proposal as follows: an average 4 percent increase on the salary schedule, which includes step movement and a 5 percent increase in stipends (both retroactive to July 1, 2009); and a $2500 increase for employees on step 22. The proposal also includes a new $1100 supplement for audiologists.

“We decided to adjourn for the evening rather than have negotiators come back after caucusing and say what everyone in the room already knows -- they have no authority,” Ramson said.

The following tentative agreements were reached: Article 17, Faculty Council; Article 27, School Calendar; Article 31, Management’s Rights. Both sides agreed to return these provisions to their original language. To read the actual language, members are encouraged to click on the respective articles of the online contract.

The next BTU-EP negotiations session will be held on October 1 at the Atlantic Technical Center from 2:30-6:00 p.m. The chief negotiator for the BTU-EP Unit is Field Staff Representative Dane Ramson. Members with comments, questions or concerns about BTU-EP negotiations should call Ramson by telephone at 954-486-6250 Ext. 228 or via e-mail at dramson@btuonline.com.

Pembroke Pines City Officials: Try Divide & Conquer

BTU-CSP / September 23, 2009 – Editor's Note: The following is a message e-mailed to all BTU-CSP members regarding distribution of merit awards. I would like to take this moment to clarify an issue regarding the Merit Award Program that is administered by the State of Florida pursuant to Florida Statutes. A letter was sent from the city manager explaining the reason why the charter schools are not participating in the program.

The Statute 1012.225 clearly indicates that the provisions of the plan are to be negotiated with the collective bargaining agent (BTU) and then sent to the state for final approval. This fact was intentionally omitted by the city manager in his letter.

Since BTU has been the collective bargaining agent for the charter school teachers, we have been willing to negotiate a Merit Plan -- a plan of inclusion compared to rewarding only a few. However, for the last three years, the city has procrastinated until the last minute to notify us. In fact, what was stated was they already received an approved plan from their consortium.

The city has failed to follow the law as it pertains to building a cooperative plan. For this reason, the BTU has objected to the consortium’s plan. The city’s plan has been overwhelmingly rejected by our charter school teachers in the past.

The city is continually trying to undermine the union’s efforts and this is yet another attempt to blame the BTU for the city manager’s own shortcomings and failures. As many of you who have attended our bargaining sessions know, the BTU is always ready and prepared to negotiate the best possible provisions for our members. As we have indicated in the past, we are willing to follow the statute as it pertains to the Merit Award Program with a plan that rewards many teachers and not a select few.

If you have any comments or additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at the telephone numbers below.

In Solidarity,

Pat Santeramo

President

Jamie Daniels

BTU-CSP Chief Negotiator

954-486-6250 Ext. 241

Steven Feldman

BTU-CSP Field Staff Representative

954-486-6250 Ext. 223

District Negotiators: All Take; No Give

BTU-TSP / September 16, 2009 – Despite the improved negotiations environment following Employee Relations Specialist Lerenzo Calhoun’s replacement of Employee Relations Director Susan Dumala as the district’s chief negotiator, the School Board’s negotiators still have nothing to offer BTU-TSP members.

“It appears that School Board negotiators want to strip the BTU-TSP bargaining unit of everything they can,” BTU-TSP Chief Negotiator Jerrod Neal said. “District negotiators want language added to the contract that would create a probationary period for technical support professionals. However, they refuse to offer the TSP negotiators anything in return.”

The following is some of the language district negotiators would like added to the TSP contract:

Approximately 131 days of a probationary period, whereas currently employees are permanent upon hire.

Employees cannot accrue vacation time until they’ve worked 45 days. Currently employees receive 4 days of sick leave upon hire

and 1 1/4 days of vacation a month upon initial hire.

Probationary Employees will not be allowed to use sick days until after their 90 day, whereas currently they can use them as of their first

day of hire.

Probationary employees can be suspended or terminated for any reason, whereas currently they would have to go through the discipline

process.

Probationary employees would not have any rights to representation while on probation.

BTU-TSP negotiators plan to present their own response to the district negotiator’s proposals during the next negotiations session and will present their own.

The next BTU-TSP negotiations will be from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. on September 30th at a location to be determined by district officials. The chief negotiator for the BTU-TSP Unit is Field Staff Representative Jerrod Neal. Members with comments, questions or concerns about BTU-TSP negotiations should call Neal by telephone at 954-486-6250 Ext. 231 or via e-mail at jneal@btuonline.com.

Education Support Negotiators Fight for Issues of Import

BTU-ESP / September 15, 2009 – Negotiators for BTU – Education Support Professionals continue to fight like never before for issues of importance to all ESP bargaining unit members. They need the support of all BTU-ESP members – dues and non-dues paying members.

Due to length for a complete BTU-ESP Negotiations Summary for September 15th, please click here.

Notter Flush with Money for Retired-Rehired Cronies; No Money for Teachers

BTU-EP / September 10, 2009 – While the BTU Negotiations Team submitted its initial salary proposal to the School Board during the second negotiations session in June, the district has still not submitted a substantive economic package in return.

“We are now in our fourteenth negotiations session with the district, and, while we have suggested multiple cost-saving proposals to help find money for raises, we are still waiting on the board’s economic package,” BTU-EP Chief Negotiator Dane Ramson said. “This is ludicrous! It’s not what good-faith bargaining is about.”

Ramson said it has become obvious that the district does not intend to save money by eliminating waste, but rather off the backs of teachers. District employees have identified budget cutting ideas that would save the district over $100 million, which is three times the amount needed for raises, but district officials have ignored virtually all of them.

While Superintendent Notter insisted he had no other choice but to layoff teachers and other employees last year, he has refused to cut any of his retired-rehired administrative “friends” all of whom earn at least $70,000 and many take home six figure salaries. Despite his claims that the district is in a “financial crisis,” he has not only refused to cut any of the double-dippers, he appears to be hiring back even more of his retired “friends” all of whom earn top salaries.

To this end, it has also been noted that that Deputy Superintendent of Educational Programs and Student Support Services was recently rehired only thirty-one days after her retirement. Union leaders are adamant that during such a “crisis” no administrators should be rehired after retirement.

“Notter should freeze all executive administrators salaries and give raises this year to bargaining unit members only,” Ramson said.

While team members disagreed about monetary issues presented during the contract talks, negotiators reached tentative agreements concerning the following contract provisions:

The following articles were tentatively agreed to :

Article 18: Due Process/ Personnel Files/ Employee Evaluation – New language added to include three-day notice of a scheduled meeting and to prevent teachers assigned out-of-field from being subject to the PDP process. “Any information relied upon by SIU to take or recommend disciplinary action shall be supplied to the BTU and/or effected member.”

Appendix C: Effective teacher designation will be noted on the transfer form for payroll purposes

Appendix D: Current language

Appendix I: Current language

Appendix L: Career ladder deleted

Appendix N: Back-to-school night deleted (Note: language transferred to Article 6)

NOTE: For references to "return to current language," members are encouraged to refer to existing contract language per contract article by clicking on the following link: BTU-Education Professionals Contract or going to the website’s contract section and clicking on the same link there.

The next BTU-EP negotiations session will be held on September 17 at the Atlantic Technical Center from 2:30-6:00 p.m. The chief negotiator for the BTU-EP Unit is Field Staff Representative Dane Ramson. Members with comments, questions or concerns about BTU-EP negotiations should call Ramson by telephone at 954-486-6250 Ext. 228 or via e-mail at dramson@btuonline.com

No Compensation Agreement Despite Amicable Contract Talks

BTU-EP / September 3, 2009 – The atmosphere of today's negotiations session between the negotiations teams representing the BTU – Education Professionals and the School Board was one of cooperation and collaboration:

BTU-EP Chief Negotiator Dane Ramson said the most noteworthy altruistic accommodation made by district negotiators was tentatively agreeing to the union's request (re: Article 19: Professional Compensation) to allow full credit for military service when an employee is under contract at the time of induction.

“Nationalism and patriotism should always be revered as it was today!” Ramson said. She continued by reporting, “suffice it to say, there were no issues of economic value resolved today.”

However, the two teams achieved movement concerning the below delineated provisions into the tentative agreement status as duly noted:

Article 5: Conditions of Employment - return to current language

Article 6: General Practices in Employment - High schools on 4x4 schedule may plan a second back to school night. Employees who volunteer will be compensated for three hours at their hourly rate. We also agreed that in the recognition of professionalism, employees should not be required to sign out unless leaving the location early.

Article 12: Reduction in Paperwork - return to current language

Article 17: Faculty Councils - return to current language

Article 19: Professional Compensation

Article 25: Reassignment and Transfer - return to current language

Article 28: Emergency School Closing - return to current language

Article 33: ESOL - return to current language

NOTE: For references to “return to current language, members are encouraged to refer to existing contract language per contract article by clicking on the following link: BTU-Education Professionals Contract or going to the website’s contract section and clicking on the same link there.

The next BTU-EP negotiations session will be held on September 10, 2009 at BTU office in Tamarac. The time is TBA (to be announced). The chief negotiator for the BTU-EP Unit is Field Staff Representative Dane Ramson. Members with comments, questions or concerns about BTU-EP negotiations should call Ramson by telephone at 954-486-6250 Ext. 228 or via e-mail at dramson@btuonline.com

Negotiators Address Contract Proposals

BTU-ESP / September 1, 2009 – The first official contract talks between negotiators for the Broward Teacher Union’s Education Support Professionals and School Board of Broward County took place today at the BTU office.

BTU-ESP Chief Negotiator Dane Ramson said the two teams collaboratively addressed the numerous proposals as well as several housekeeping issues. Unlike the contract negotiations for teachers, the BTU-ESP negotiators are conducting a limited re-opener.

During today’s negotiations, the BTU-ESP negotiation team members presented the following proposals:

Article 4 Grievance Procedures – adding a statutory appellate process – Ch. 120 hearings.

Article 13 Vacancies, Reappointments, Reassignments, Summer School Vacancies, Promotions, Transfer - codifies the existing practice and board policy for reappointments. The purpose of this proposal is to give uniformity and standardization to the process. This provision requires that notification of reappointment be given at least 30 days prior to the end of calendar school year. Notification shall include job classification, calendar, work hours, location, and school year.

Art 17 Wage - includes the creation of supplemental pay for earning in-service points.

District negotiators presented the following proposals:

Article 6 Terms and Conditions of Employment - addressing four day work week and requesting ESPs reduce their calendar.

Article 15 Insurance - proposes to eliminate the school board’s duty to pay 100% of the health insurance premiums for HMO and Consumer driven coverage for the individual employee; capping the Board’s responsibility at $479.92.

Article 17 Wages which includes newly negotiated salary schedules for pay grades 11 and 13.

The next session will start at 12:00 p.m. on September 15 at the Atlantic Technical Center. The chief negotiator for the BTU-ESP Unit is Field Staff Representative Dane Ramson who is also negotiating the teachers’ contract. Members with comments, questions or concerns about BTU-ESP negotiations should call Ramson by telephone at 954-486-6250 Ext. 228 or via e-mail at dramson@btuonline.com.

City Negotiators Propose Pay Cut

BTU-CSP / August 31, 2009 – BTU-CSP Negotiations Team members met with the City of Pembroke Pines officials during an emergency negotiations session to discuss the city’s alleged financial urgency.

City Manager Charles Dodge said the city has declared “financial urgency” and proposed to renege on the BTU-CSP’s guaranteed contract by asking that all teachers give back the step increase they already received in their recent paycheck. Union leaders remain adamantly against the proposed pay cut and questions whether the city’s finances are really as dire as officials would like the public to think.

During an audit of the city’s finances, school finance and budget professionals from the union’s state affiliate, the Florida Education Association, and its national affiliate, the American Federation of Teachers, found that the charter school’s reserve balance is at 12 percent. Most school districts in Florida are operating with a reserve balance of around 3 to 4 percent.

According to Dodge, Charter School Professionals cannot receive a raise out of the city’s reserves because an ordinance prevents the reserve balance from dropping below 10 percent. However, officials have said they plan to pay back the city’s deficit from the reserve balance, which would drop it to less that 10 percent.

"It seems that the city manager is struggling to find the truth, blaming everyone but himself for not properly funding the charter school program,” Daniels said.

Dodge further illustrated his lack of understanding of the city’s finances when he said that charter school teachers have always been paid at least a 3 percent increase at each step. BTU-CSP Negotiations Team members insist that this is false.

The union has already declared impasse in its contract talks with the city for the past 2008-2009 school year. City officials have refused to match the traditional public schools salary increase and to grant new employees the right to consistent feedback throughout their first year of employment.

“Part of funding a school system is budgeting for employee raises, not just keeping the lights on,” Daniels said. “If you can’t afford top-quality teachers, then you can’t afford top-quality schools. It’s the teachers that make the schools ‘A’ rated”.

The impasse hearing about last year’s contract negotiations is set for November 5. The time and location has yet to be determined.

Members with comments, questions or concerns about charter school negotiations should contact BTU-CSP Chief Negotiator Daniels by telephone at 954-486-6250 Ext. 241 or via e-mail at jdaniels@btuonline.com.

Negotiators Make Slow Progress

BTU-EP / August 27, 2009 – District negotiators continue to move at a snail’s pace.

School Board Chief Negotiator Susan Dumala barked at the number of proposals BTU has on the table stating that the union has twice as many open proposals than the district. That is not true.

“This offensive statement is consistent with Dumala’s practice of being deceptive and instigating less than a harmonious negotiation environment,” BTU-EP Chief Negotiator Dane Ramson said. “We have been assertively attempting to resolve meritorious issues.” Ramson added Dumala prefers to start negotiating at 11:00 a.m. and immediately takes a lunch break. In addition, she wastes considerable time attempting to explain her inflammatory statements.

“It is very difficult to negotiate when the district’s chief negotiator constantly compromises good faith bargaining,” Ramson continued.

She said It is important for members to know that district officials opted to open the entire contract and not the union. Union leaders did not see the need to open the entire contract and still remain concerned about the motivation of district officials for having forced said action.

The two negotiations teams reached tentative agreements on the following provisions: Article 4, Tentative Assignments; Article 17, Faculty Councils. They also reached agreements about Article 34, Grievance Procedure (extended, advancing grievances to Step II from five to ten days) by eliminating the alternate Step III and cleaning up the language addressing expedited arbitrations.

District negotiators withdrew their proposal on Article 25, Reassignment and Transfer.

The next BTU-EP negotiation session will be held from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sept. 3, at the Atlantic Technical Center. BTU President Pat Santeramo is working with Superintendent Jim Notter to get the time changed for future negotiations sessions so employees can attend.

BTU-TSP Negotiations Resume with New Chief Negotiator

BTU-TSP / August 26, 2009 – After a month-long standstill, the BTU-TSP negotiations team met today with the School Board of Broward County’s negotiations team.

BTU-TSP Chief Negotiator Jerrod Neal said the team was surprised to find that Employee Relations Specialist Lerenzo Calhoun would now assume the responsibilities of District Chief Negotiator, replacing the Director of Employee Relations Sue Dumala. Neal said the SBBC negotiating team appeared much more prepared than in previous meetings. Information the BTU-TSP team requested from previous negotiations sessions, although still not complete, was presented to inform the BTU-TSP team of where funds were being allocated.

“The overall atmosphere with Calhoun heading the SBBC Negotiations Team was much more conducive to negotiations,” Neal said. “Both sides seem committed to seriously working on issues that can be resolved without having to spend money.”

The date of the next negotiations sessions changed from September 9, 2009 to September 16, 2009. It will be from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

BTU-TSP will continue at the same time every other Wednesday at the BTU office in Tamarac, alternating between the BTU office and a district-designated location. The updated BTU-TSP negotiations schedule includes the following dates: September 16, September 30, October 14 and October 28.

District Proposes No Raises, Pay Cuts and More Layoffs

BTU-EP / August 20, 2009 – District officials continue to arrive at the negotiations table with no money for raises, and yet news reports reveal the millions of tax dollars they continue to waste and propose spending. In addition to no raises, Broward schools negotiators want teachers to a take pay cut during the upcoming holiday season and continue pushing to change the high school schedules, which will result in the layoff of 500 teachers and increased workload for those who remain with no additional compensation.

BTU-EP Chief Negotiator Dane Ramson said union negotiators secured a tentative agreement on Article Eleven, Student Discipline requiring administrators to accurately code student discipline actions in the Discipline Management System within five days of imposed disciplinary action. This language is important based upon a violent battery against a teacher last year. The student was suspended for ten days for fighting. However, the inaccurate coding of the student as unexcused absence allowed the student re-entry on campus. The student violently attacked and seriously injured the teacher stating it was the teacher’s fault she was suspended.

The parties also tentatively agreed to language in Article Three acknowledging BTU’s right to enter into Memorandums of Understanding on behalf of the our membership.

Again, union negotiators voiced concern regarding the district’s slow pace and lack of preparation for the contract talks. It clearly appears that SBBC Chief Negotiator Susan Dumala is not negotiating in good faith and is posturing for impasse. Even when attending contract talks, they fail to show up fully prepared.

The union is still awaiting to receive accurate information regarding the cost of a step, the number of persons in the bargaining unit, and an accurate breakdown of the number of employees on each step. Apparently, school system officials have yet to even ask the district’s accounting department employees to prepare a budget that would include raises for employees.

“Usually during tough economic times, it behooves the parties to negotiate and upgrade contract language, Ramson said in closing. “That is not the case – it would require caring!”

The next BTU-EP negotiation session will be held from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on August 27, at the BTU office. The chief negotiator for the BTU-EP Unit is Field Staff Representative Dane Ramson. Members with comments, questions or concerns about BTU-EP negotiations should call Ramson by telephone at 954-486-6250 Ext. 228 or via e-mail at dramson@btuonline.com.

Negotiators Set Ground Rules for Contract Talks

BTU-ESP / August 18, 2009 – Negotiations commenced today between the BTU - Education Support Professionals and the School Board of Broward County.

BTU-ESP Chief Negotiator Dane Ramson who is also the chief negotiator for the BTU-EP Unit said the first negotiations session yielded a tentative agreement about ground rules. The ground rules state that negotiations will be held between 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. every other Tuesday with the contract talks taking place at the alternating locations of the BTU Office and Atlantic Tech Center.

“To our surprise, the district’s team is comprised of nine members while our team consisted of seven members. During the course of preliminary discussions it was jointly agreed that each team would have seven members,” Ramson said. “Hope this is an oversight and not indicative of things to come.”

Members of the BTU- ESP Negotiations Team noted concerns regarding their respective school administrators receiving adequate notification for their release to attend bargaining sessions. This has been a issue in the past. Team members were reassured that the Employee Relations Department would provide timely notification to their administrators.

Ramson said it is important to note that this year’s round of contract talks is a limited reopener, which means each the union and district is limited to opening two articles with salary and insurance as automatic re-openers. Since negotiations commenced three weeks later than usual and in a show of good faith, Ramson advised district negotiators of the union’s intent to open two of the following articles 5, 6, or 13. However, when asked which articles the district would open, district negotiators replied they have yet to make that decision.

“Is this a lack of preparation or a lack good faith bargaining?” Ramson asked. She added the district’s Chief Negotiator Susan Cooper has earned the respect of the BTU and hopefully this will not diminish at the table.

Additionally, Ramson asked Cooper under what authority was the BTU-ESP calendar reduced from 196 to 186 days, noting the absence of negotiated language giving district officials the authority, nor the flexibility, to reduce said calendar. District negotiators failed to render an acceptable answer. Ramson informed the district’s negotiators of the union’s intent to file a class action grievance regarding the reduction of the work calendar and failure to provide reasonable notice of said action.

This year’s BTU-ESP Negotiations Team consists of Chief Negotiator Dane Ramson, Co-Negotiator Iris Froehlich, Ernestine Alleyne, Lila Benbow, Katrina Blanks, Alisa LoRay and Raymond Walker

The next session will be held at 10 a.m. at the BTU office on September 1, 2009. The chief negotiator for the BTU-ESP Unit is Field Staff Representative Dane Ramson. Members with comments, questions or concerns about BTU-ESP negotiations should call Ramson by telephone at 954-486-6250 Ext. 228 or via e-mail at dramson@btuonline.com.

Charter Schools Team Declares Impasse

NOTE: Proposal matrix here
Contract negotiations talking points

BTU-CSP / Aug. 17, 2009 – The BTU-CSP Negotiations Team has declared impasse in regard to contract talks for the last year or the 2008-2009 school year. The date for the impasse hearing has been set for Nov 5, 2009 with time and location to be announced once it has been determined.

BTU-CSP Chief Negotiator Jamie Daniels said the BTU-CSP team decided to go to impasse about the following two issues. The first issue concerns the city’s refusal to grant teachers the right to receive clear and consistent feedback during their first year of employment. The BTU-CSP team is asking for those employees to be given feedback twice during the year as to how well they are performing in their jobs. The city will still maintain the right to dismiss an employee during the first year of employment.

Daniels said the second issue centers on salary increases. BTU-CSP negotiators asked the city to match the raise given to all public school teachers who work in traditional Broward schools. This is a promise city officials have always maintained since the charter schools’ inception. Recognizing the city’s tight budget constraints, the BTU-CSP Negotiations Team members asked for $198,000 dollars in order to do this again, but the city refused.

In response, the BTU conducted preliminary research requesting specific financial documents in order to review the city’s budget. According to early findings, the union believes the city has more than enough money to fund this request.

Also, during the summer, city officials decided to renig on the signed contract for the 09-10 school year that moves every teacher up a step on the salary schedule despite rewarding union brothers and sisters that are in other city bargaining units with the same automatic step movement.

“That means every teacher will be working for the same amount of money that they were working for last year despite the fact that they will have gained another year of experience,” Daniels said.

According to the union’s budget analysis of the city’s finances, this is not an issue of money. City officials have the money to fund our step movement proposal but instead chose to pay off debt with the money that would have otherwise been used for teacher raises. BTU-CSP Negotiations Team members will be heading back to the table shortly to discuss the city’s alleged financial urgency.

The BTU has retained Steve Wood from Bellows and Associates to conduct a thorough analysis of the city’s budget. In addition to Wood, the American Federation of Teachers, the union’s national affiliate, has offered the support of national budgetary experts. Mark Richard, a nationally recognized labor attorney, has been hired to handle the impasse hearing.

If the city and your union cannot come to an agreement about the step increase for the 2009-2010 school year, the two sides will likely be forced into a second impasse hearing. During the coming days, BTU-CSP members will have an opportunity to provide the negotiations team with their input through surveys and informational meetings. All BTU-CSP members are asked to be prepared to attend the city commission meetings to let our city commissioners know that we deserve better treatment.

“Teachers are the lifeblood of the charter schools,” Daniels said.

As soon as time, date and location of the next negotiations session is established, it will be released. The chief negotiator for the BTU-CSP Unit is Field Staff Representative Jamie Daniels. Members with comments, questions or concerns about BTU-CSP negotiations should call Daniels by telephone at 954-486-6250 Ext. 241 or via e-mail at jdaniels@btuonline.com.

District Proposes Reducing Teacher Calendar

NOTE: Proposal matrix here

Contract negotiations talking points

BTU-EP / August 13, 2009 – Today's negotiation session yielded no movement in addressing the BTU-EP's economic package, which includes salary increase proposals.

BTU-EP Chief Negotiator Dane Ramson said district negotiators sang their same "doom and gloom" song, "Ain't no money for the teachers." Again, district negotiators requested that teachers take reductions in various areas and ways to balance the budget. For example, district officials want to reduce the teachers’ 196 day calendar, which would result in a pay loss.

“Ironically, when the district eliminated summer school, they did not reduce the calendars of principals that no longer have summer school programs,” Ramson said. “Why not? Such a reduction would result in a substantial savings of millions of dollars. Oops, because that would be off the backs of administrators rather than teachers.”

Gina Eyerman, South Area Director, presented a " High School Schedule Realignment Cost Benefit Analysis. " The purpose was to show the alleged cost savings if all high schools were on a seven period rotator schedule. It is important to note that this change would result in elimination of 527 high school instructional positions.

“This disingenuous tactic to eliminate waivers has been presented so many times that it reminds me of being on an airplane watching the flight attendants point to the emergency exits. Same show, just a different day,” Ramson said.

The next BTU-EP negotiations session for instructional staff will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, August 20th at the Atlantic Technical Center. Negotiators are discussing changing the negotiation’s time in order to allow more employees to attend now that school has resumed. The chief negotiator for the BTU-EP Unit is Field Staff Representative Dane Ramson. Members with comments, questions or concerns about BTU-EP negotiations should call Ramson by telephone at 954-486-6250 Ext. 228 or via e-mail at dramson@btuonline.com.

District and Union Negotiators Make No Substantive

Progress; First Day of School Approaches

NOTE: Proposal matrix here

BTU-EP / August 6, 2009 – Union and district negotiators met for their ninth contract negotiations session today and continued to make virtually no progress on substantive issues such as salary increases.

BTU Chief Negotiator Dane Ramson reported union negotiators again presented the district with their Article 22 insurance proposal. BTU Field Staff Representative Ralph Eckhardt who serves as co-chief negotiator said during the negotiations session that the union would do a much better job providing members with quality and affordable health care benefits.

Eckhardt added by combining members of the Education Professionals, Technical Support Professionals and Education Support Professionals bargaining units, and Federation of Public Employees members, the union could establish its own Health Care Trust.

BTU leaders believe that union staff can administer employee health benefits in a more cost effective method than the school district. Eckhardt explained that the union is not submitting a proposal regarding the trust, but rather the presented proposal requests the monies needed to fund it.

Union officials and virtually all members continue to be concerned with the diminution of health care choices. Also of equal concern to union leaders is the need to review and modify the process utilized in soliciting and securing insurance carriers.

Potentially, the trust could address some of the concerns regarding skyrocketing health care costs especially when it concerns dependent coverage. The BTU’s primary motivation in offering the proposal is to ultimately deliver premium health care benefits to bargaining unit members and their dependents at a reasonable cost.

Union negotiators reiterated their disappointment in not receiving a substantive response from district negotiators about retirement incentive programs, which have been discussed by the two sides. Union negotiators noted that millions of dollars will be saved as a result of the current Retirement Assistance Program’s implementation. The program’s full savings will be experienced over the next ten years. To that end, union negotiators requested an accounting of the monies saved thus far.

Ramson noted that this is the second session during which the District Chief Negotiator Susan Dumala submitted written rationale for rejecting proposals. Union negotiators believe this tactic may be evidence of a predisposition by members of the School Board of Broward County to declare impasse. Last year, the BTU declared impasse in a rancorous and protract contract negotiation.

“It is clear that they are laying the ground work and putting the wheels in motion for an impasse declaration to occur,” Ramson said “As opposed to good faith bargaining, district negotiators appear to be merely posturing for impasse preparation.”

She continued that union negotiators continue to bargain in good faith under very difficult circumstances. However, it appears to be one-sided and an effort in futility.

Union negotiators reacted in shock when district negotiators rejected a union proposal to expand credit to men and women who serve in military on active duty. District negotiators reportedly rejected a proposal for the men and women who fight to protect the United States. District negotiators indicated they do not want to grant more than four years credit for military service.

"However, they will rehire retired administrators and pay them more money than they made at the time of their retirement," Ramson said. "Cronyism is more important to the school board than patriotism!"

The chief negotiator for the BTU-EP Unit is Field Staff Representative Dane Ramson. Members with comments, questions or concerns about BTU-EP negotiations should call Ramson by telephone at 954-486-6250 Ext. 228 or via e-mail at dramson@btuonline.com. The next BTU-EP negotiations session will take place from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 13th at the BTU office in Tamarac.

Charter School Negotiations Remain at Stand Still

BTU-CSP / July 30, 2009 – Union staff and lawyers continue to discuss possible strategies to break the current stalemate in contract negotiations for the City of Pembroke Pines Charter Schools. Union leaders have obtained the services of nationally recognized labor lawyer Mark Richard to assist in contract talks. Richard successfully spearheaded the charter schools' first contract with the city. BTU-CSP Chief Negotiator Jamie Daniels remains optimistic that an agreement can still be reached even if it must take place through the impasse process.

The chief negotiator for the BTU-CSP Unit is Field Staff Representative Jamie Daniels. Members with comments, questions or concerns about BTU-CSP negotiations should call Daniels by telephone at 954-486-6250 Ext. 241 or via e-mail at jdaniels@btuonline.com. No future negotiation sessions are scheduled at this time.

Negotiators Discuss Differentiated Accounting Program

NOTE: District proposal matrix here.

BTU-EP / July 30, 2009 – Contract talks continued today as negotiators focused on district proposals surrounding the Differentiated Accountability Program.

Dr. Cathy Kirk and Leah Kelly returned to the contract talks bringing with them documents requested in last week's negotiations session regarding the Differentiated Accountability Program (DA). This was the first timely response to a request for information. The documents were: SBBC Enhancing Teacher Performance Guidelines (in draft form), which will must be submitted to the Department of Education; the revised Florida's Differentiated Accountability Plan that delineates the updated DA categories.

BTU-EP Chief Negotiator Dane Ramson said the documents facilitated productive conversations revealing that the district and union already have processes in place addressing student gains criteria. It was noted when reviewing these documents that the district is already in quasi-compliance with DA's mandates. Furthermore the Schools in Need of Improvement (SINI ) categories have changed -- this change allowed for the inclusion of high schools and centers. They were previously omitted under the Title-1 program.

Ramson said one of the prongs which union negotiators adamantly oppose is the involuntary transfer of teachers who fail to achieve student gains. Based upon DA's criteria, these involuntary transfers could occur as often as every two years.

"We will not allow the district or the state to play musical chairs with teachers’ assignments, adversely impacting their careers and their lives by allowing such frequent transfers." Ramson said.

Union negotiators inquired if any administrators have been or will be transferred under the new DA guidelines. District negotiators replied in the affirmative. When asked for specifics, they promised to provide a list by the next session.

Even though the State of Florida was chosen to participate in the DA pilot program, Broward County is in a very unique position when compared to the remainder of the state. It is the union's position that Broward schools should be exempted from the state's DA pilot program.

History has proven that Broward schools is a district of elite educational professionals. Broward has a very impressive number of passing schools – 92 percent. The district maintains high test scores. The school system has the largest number of National Board Certified teachers.

Ramson repeated there are already processes in place that provide more than adequate assistance for teachers in need. This is evidenced by the District's FCAT status. As such, union negotiators maintained that for the most part, present practices not only match, but exceed the requirements for annual yearly progress (AYP). Additionally, district negotiators seemed amenable to the inclusion of BTU's proposal on Peer Review. This proposal will enhance the required Cycle of Assistance.

A conversation then ensued regarding the 60 percent proposed learning gains, as mandated by the state for DA compliance. Union negotiators are concerned that the state has imposed an unreasonable standard.

District negotiators insultingly resubmitted their counterproposals; this time delineating (delimiting) their reasons for rejection in writing. Union negotiators view this action as another stalling tactic. They voiced concern regarding the district's failure to have the appropriate personnel at the negotiation's table. The absence of certain district team members is indicative of the school system's cavalier attitude and lack of concern regarding the rights of bargaining members.

The next BTU-EP negotiations will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, August 6th at the Atlantic Technical Center.

Dumala No Show for BTU-TSP Negotiations

BTU-TSP / July 29, 2009 – On July 29, 2009, negotiators for the School Board and the BTU-Technical Support Professionals gathered for another round of negotiations.

BTU-TSP Chief Negotiator Jerrod Neal reported the negotiations started with the District Chief Negotiator Susan Dumala not even showing up to bargain. Instead, she sent Employee Relations Specialist Susan Cooper to bargain for her and with a message that she had something more pressing at the office to deal with.

Neal said not only did this send the message that the BTU-TSP was not important enough to Dumala; but district negotiators came to the table with absolutely nothing to offer, other than some incomplete data. District negotiators indicated they must further study and research the data in order to explain it.

“It is remarkable that they didn't understand their own document and data,” Neal said.

No Agreements; Talks Continue

BTU-EP / July 23, 2009 – Negotiators reached no tentative agreements during today's contract talks.

BTU-EP Chief Negotiator reports that the district's negotiators presented expert witnesses on Differentiated Accountability. Those experts were Dr. Cathy Kirk (Evaluation Coordinator) and Leah Kelly (Executive Director for Student Support Services). In realizing the overwhelming breath of the DA mandate, union negotiators were informed that it is intent of district officials to seek exceptions and extensions from the state. District officials plan to request and to utilize existing negotiated processes, i.e. IPAS, PDPs, mentoring programs.

BTU negotiators requested a copy of all documents submitted to the state. At which juncture, district negotiators stated that the request has yet to be submitted in writing. This appeared to be a disingenuous diversion tactic that is consistent with the district negotiators continued stalling to provide pertinent information to union negotiators.

The union’s proposed Peer Assistance Program was well received by district officials. Expert, Dr. Cathy Kirk, stated that she had perused the BTU's proposal. Even though the proposal has not been studied in its entirety, district officials are amenable to its implementation via the establishment of a joint committee.

Discussion between negotiators ensued regarding district officials putting the union representatives on notice as to an alleged failure to obtain appropriate authorization prior to visiting schools/worksites. Union negotiators upheld the long standing past practice of notification -- not authorization. Interestingly, the list of schools that raised this issue are the same schools in which union officials have reported had a high number of contract violations and other personnel issues.

District negotiators submitted counter proposals on Article 3, Memorandum on Understanding, and Article 6, Job Descriptions. Both counterproposals were summarily rejected and dismissed as lacking substance on a failure to sincerely address the concerns of union members.

In general conversation, district negotiators requested a modification in the window for seeking transfers, as a result of issues with this year’s lay-off process. Union negotiators expressed concern about agreeing to any further modifications that may have a domino effect of creating additional mistakes and a bigger mess than they have presently caused.

The atmosphere in negotiations continues to decay from one session to the next. The request of union negotiators for collaboration continues to fall on deaf ears. It's is evident that district negotiators do not respect educational professionals.

The next BTU-EP negotiations will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 30th at the BTU office.

District Continues to Stall Negotiations Process

BTU-EP / July 16, 2009 – During this week’s negotiations, BTU Field Staff Representative Ralph Eckhardt acted in the capacity of Chief Negotiator in Dane Ramson's absence. District negotiators continued to stall the negotiations process by failing to provide requested district financial information.

Eckhardt reported that not to the surprise of BTU-EP negotiation team members, the school district’s chief negotiator commenced the negotiation's session on her usual negative note by not providing promised financial information requested by President Santeramo from Superintendent Notter via letter dated June 18, 2009.

District Chief Negotiator Dumala continued to confuse the union’s negotiations team by vacillating on her proposal regarding Article 5E, Length Of Workday. Her initial proposal addressed a 4-day work week for the entire year. She later countered her own proposal limiting the District's proposition to summer months only. As if typing on a computer, she attempted to press the “undo” button. This constant recanting, reverting, and hitting “undo” is indicative of her lack of: preparation, research, commitment, dedication, and awareness of the district's true position on the issue and many other concerns. In an effort to distract those present from her vacillation, she offered for clarification the executed MOU dated May 20, 2009, re: 4-Day Work Week. Our query is, if district officials negotiated the document, i.e., MOU re: 4-Day Work Week, why is it that the district’s chief negotiator is not familiar with its content? Union negotiators find it curious that Dumala seemed confused about a document she helped to write.

Without discussion by the chief negotiator from the School Board, we did accept and will review the district's information regarding their proposal on Differentiated Accountability, which amounts to yet another attempt to circumvent workers’ rights and their hard earned contractual provisions. The programs sounds strangely similar to the “Superintendent’s Schools” that members know failed to improve student instruction.

District negotiators presented their expert to discuss each side's proposal on Article 5A regarding invasive medical procedures and medication administration. BTU-EP negotiators were happy to hear that training is provided to the ESP's required to perform these medical duties and that very few teachers do so. However, the law is the law be it a few or one! As such, Dumala’s hesitancy to tentatively agree to this proposal is perplexing and disappointing. Interestingly, posturing by the District's Chief Negotiator (which stifled the Director of Health Education Service's testimony) did not go unnoticed by BTU-EP team members. Are they on the same team?

Dumala's failure, once again, to timely provide requested information was addressed by Eckhardt. He indicated in strong terms that her failure to provide requested information constituted a failure to negotiate in good faith, a violation of state law. Dumala retorted with an unacceptable excuse that the documents requested by BTU are beyond the scope of her position. This clearly demonstrates her continual posturing to stall information requests or it exemplifies a vote of no confidence by district leaders in their own chief negotiator who should have access to all such documentation. The provision of timely, accurate and complete information by the district not only for negotiations but member representation in general remains a top concern of union leaders.

Dumala explained the district's desire for a new policy which would require "administrators with certification" to substitute once a month.

Eckhardt presented and explained the union’s ground-breaking proposal for Peer Review, Appendix O. It proposes a plan to assist instructional staff with mentoring and strategies. Dumala promised her team would review the proposal and be prepared next week to discuss this issue in depth. Even though it was presented four weeks ago, union negotiators await a substantiative response.

Eckhardt reminded district negotiators that they have yet to provide a response regarding Appendix P (newly retitled N), Retirement Incentive Programs: RAP, Early Retirement, and DROP health insurance benefits.

The next negotiation session will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., on July 23rd, at Atlantic Technical Center.

District Negotiators Refuse to Provide Timely Information

BTU-EP / July 9, 2009 – Most disconcerting for union negotiators is the failure of the district to respond to requests for information.

BTU Chief Negotiator Dane Ramson said on June 18, 2009, President Pat Santeramo requested information in accordance with the Public Records Act for financial records. To date, this information has not been provided.

At today’s negotiations session, Budget Director, Jane Turner, presented the “doom and gloom” of the district’s finances. The presentation failed to provide union negotiators with the previously requested information, let alone, any pertinent financial information.

Ramson delineated additional requests for information which have not been forthcoming. For example, district officials argue that BTU Field Staff Representatives have not followed the contractual provision by giving proper notification to principals/administration upon arrival at respective school sites. Negotiators asked for specific examples, times and dates when such incidents occurred. District Chief Negotiator Susan Dumala shockingly stated that she would have to consult with the Principals Association’s coordinator, Lisa Maxwell, to ascertain this information.

The BTU’s request for specificity was one of genuine concern even though we realize the complaint lacks merit and is disingenuous. This is a blatant and subordinating attack on unionism and exemplifies the district’s absurd posturing as it pertains to members’ rights. After heated conversation, union negotiators were assured that information will once again

be forthcoming in a complete and timely manner.

The two teams tentatively agreed to Article Seven, Health and Safety, in respect to the Tools for Schools Program jointly revising the language to reflect agreement for implementation and compliance for all schools/sites.

The district posits that “Needs Improvement” is not on the IPAS evaluation form and would like to remove it from the contract. Union negotiators were left to wonder what IPAS Evaluation form has Dumala researched -- not Broward County School Board’s form. This is yet another example of Dumala’s lack of preparation and commitment.

The next negotiations session will be from 9 to 5 p.m. on July 16 at the BTU office in Tamarac.

Union Negotiates Additional Layoff Benefits

BTU-EP / July 2, 2009 – Today’s negotiations yielded additional benefits for teachers who have been laid off.

BTU-EP Chief Negotiator Dane Ramson said Article 26(B)(1), states that employees will be recalled to the same subject area/program, that they were teaching at the time of their layoff, in the reverse order of layoff when a vacancy occurs. The BTU team members negotiated a Memorandum Of Understanding providing, “if any subject area/program Reduction in Personnel list be exhausted, with no additional employees subject to recall in that subject area/program, employees still on the RIP list in other subject areas/programs (who are certified in that subject area/program) will be offered vacancies as they arise.

Ramson said this shall be done on a seniority basis among those certified in the subject area/program that remain on the RIP list. An employee who is certified in another subject area/program from which they were not reduced, who is offered a position in the other subject area/program and who rejects the other position, shall not be removed from the RIP list due to the rejection.”

Tentative agreements were also reached on Article 11(R) clearly delineating “any person who knows, or who has reasonable cause to suspect child abuse, shall report it to the Child Protective Services. Relaying the information to an administrator, does not relieve a mandatory reporter from making contact with Child Protective Services (FSS39.201).

Tentative agreements were also reached on appendices A, B, H, M, and O. Additional details will be released as they become available.

The next negotiation session will be held at 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on July 9, 2009 at Atlantic Technical Center.

Union and District Agree to Extend Rights of Laid-Off Employees

BTU-EP / June 25, 2009 – The proposal of the BTU-EP Negotiations Team to increase the re-employment protection rights of laid-off employees from 12 months to 24 months was agreed upon by district negotiators.

The BTU and SBBC team members performed an arduous, yet necessary task of reviewing articles in the contract with no proposed changes and/or those that are being revised to update terminology.

Both the BTU and SBBC have tentatively agreed on the following articles with no changes to the contract:

Article	Section	Title
1	A, B	Preamble
2	A	Recognition
3	A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H	Definition s
4	A, B, D, E	Professional Qualifications & Assignments
5	A, B, C, F, G, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U	Conditions of Employment
6	A, C, D, E, G, H, J, K, M, N, O	General Employment Practices
7	A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H	Health & Safety
8	A, C, D, F, G	Curriculum & Instruction
9	B, C	Department Chairs, Curriculum Councils, & Professional Development Council
10	A, B, D, E, G	Employee Preparation, Conference & Planning
11	A, B, C, D, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, N, P, Q	Student Discipline
12	A, B, C, D, E, F	Reduction in Paperwork
13	A, B, C	Academic Freedom
14	A, B, C	Political Activity
15	F, H, J.7	Accountability
16	A, B, C	Student Teaching Assignments
17	A, B, D, E, F	Faculty Councils
18	D	Due Process/Personnel File/Employee Evaluation
19	C, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, S, T, U	Professional Compensation
20	A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H	Promotional & Supplemental Pay Options
21	A, B, C, D	Achievement Incentive Pay
22	A, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, K	Insurance
23	B, E, G, H, I, J, K, M, N, O, Q, R, T, U, V, W	Leaves
24	A, C, D, E	Employee Assistance Program
25	B, E, F	Reassignment & Transfer
26	B.5, C, D, E	Reduction in Personnel
27	B	School Calendar
28	A, B, D	Emergency School Closing
29	A, E, F, G, H, I, L, N, O, Q, R, T, U, X	Union Rights
30	A, B, C, D, F, G, H	Miscellaneous
32	All	No-Strike
33	A, B, C	ESOL
34	A, B, C, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L	Grievance Procedure
35	A, B, C	Inclusion
36	B	Term of Agreement

The next BTU-EP negotiations session is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 2, 2009 at the BTU office in Tamarac.

BTU-EP negotiators meet with District for the first exchange

BTU-EP / June 18, 2009 – During this week's contract negotiations for Broward teachers, it became obvious to the BTU - Education Professionals negotiations team that the district’s proposals during the second negotiations session are intended to take benefits away from teachers and stewards.

BTU-EP Chief Negotiator Dane Ramson said district officials made it clear that they would prefer neither a step increase nor any pay raise for the upcoming contract and school year. They clearly stated that there is no additional money to cover increased insurance costs and proposed that all employees forfeit pay for three planning days.

District negotiators also suggested reducing pool days and the number of early release days from six to two. Likewise, district negotiators proposed to negate the utilization of super-seniority status for summer school jobs.

“It appears that the district is once again attempting to balance the budget on the backs of the teachers,” Ramson said.

She added despite all the gains, the district wants to implement Differentiated Accountability by using involuntary transfers and nullifying academic freedom, without taking into account the affected student population. The price tag attached to Differentiated Accountability varies from $5 to $30 million.

Some of the BTU negotiations team priorities include: taking control of health insurance, centralizing hiring practices in the department of Instructional Staff, having faculty perform formal evaluations of administrators, and providing aftercare at no cost to instructional employees.

“Clearly, School Board’s proposals greatly undermine and diminish the power and effectiveness of a strong contract that the BTU has worked diligently to build for years,” Ramson said.

The next negotiations meeting will be held from 9a.m.-5p.m on Thursday, June 25, 2009 at Atlantic Technical Center.

BTU-EP: Union Conducts Ground Rules Session

BTU-EP / May 19,2009 -- The preliminary session for the purpose of establishing ground rules was held today, May 19, 2009 at the BTU office in Tamarac. Present were new team members: Oliver Bythewood and Kalebra Williams as well as existing members: Ralph Eckhardt, Annie Feldman, Joan LeRoy and Ronnie Virgillito. School Board team members present were Chris Bolden, Robert Crawford, Linda Lopez, Ryan Reardon. The parties agreed to hold weekly negotiation sessions on Thursdays from 9 to 5 at alternating sites: the BTU and Atlantic Technical Center.

The first session will be held on Thursday May 28, 2009. This will not be a regular negotiation session. This meeting will be of the subcommittee addressing the Differentiated Accountability Model.

The first negotiations session for exchanging proposals by both teams will be on June 18, 2009 at the BTU office.