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Nov 9, 2009 11:08 pm US/Eastern
Penn Hills Teachers Want Dialogue On Contract
PENN HILLS (KDKA) ―
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Penn Hills Teachers, weary over contract negotiations since January, showed up at the school board meeting to voice the frustration over what Penn Hills Education Association President Ryan Osorio says are stalled talks.
KDKA
Penn Hills teachers, weary over contract negotiations since January, showed up at the school board meeting to voice the frustration over what Penn Hills Education Association President Ryan Osorio says are stalled talks.
"Wages are a sticking point, the contributions towards our benefits are a sticking point. There are some language changes also," he said.
The school district's latest offer is a two-year contract with a wage freeze, an employee contribution of 10 percent toward health care premiums and "step" increases.
The teachers union, who says their average teacher salary ranks third lowest among the 43 school districts in Allegheny County, proposes a five-year contract with a six percent salary increase, a reduction in the contribution to health care for individual coverage, and "step" increases.
"But we just don't have the money to give to anybody right now," Erin Vecchio, a Penn Hills School Board member, said.
Vecchio does think there is something the district can do to get both sides talking again.
"They need to sit down and negotiate. Get rid of Bruce Campbell and their negotiator, get our own solicitor that we're paying for on a day-to-day basis instead of paying another man to do negotiations and wasting money," she said.
"The biggest thing in the world are our teachers," Vecchio adds. "And I don't care what we have to do to resolve it but we need to do something to resolve it."
The next negotiating meeting is scheduled for Tuesday which is also the deadline for submission of the district's financial audit to the state.
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