Negotiators Wrap up New Teacher Contract

Cranford school administrators wrapped up a final three-year contract agreement last week, completing negotiations lasting 20 months. 

 The steps taken to achieve the contract were unusual from the very beginning – typically the BOE has settled the contract before the old one expired, or at least has settled a Memorandum of Agreement, Beth Lambe said, president of Cranford Education Association, a union that represents over 400 school employees. 

 "This was the longest and hardest contract that has been settled in Cranford in years," Lambe said via e-mail correspondence.

Mandates thundered down from Trenton, further affecting talks, Mary Sudiak said, Board of Education vice president. The state, for example, required that Cranford School District employees contribute 1.5 percent to health benefits. Negotiators also first received word that the BOE budgeting would be subject to the 2 percent property tax cap during this time, and state cuts that totaled $2.5 million.

Last fall negotiators reached an impasse, calling on a state mediator to help resolve the contract.

" Our biggest obstacle was the current financial climate of our country and the cuts that Chris Christie made to our district. We overcame this by agreeing to a contract that would help the district recover from some of the recent blows it has received from all of the cuts," Lambe added via e-mail.

 The agreement is as follows, according to Jo Ann Boyle, member of the Cranford Board of Education:

▪     Teachers will receive a retroactive salary raise of 2.75 percent for the 2009-10 school year.

▪     This year, teachers receive a 1.5 percent increase, and from their base salary will contribute 1.5 percent towards medical insurance.

▪     Next year, teachers will receive a 1.75 percent increase and will contribute 1.5 percent to health insurance. 

The agreement is middle ground between the proposals of each organization. The Cranford Education Association originally asked for a higher raise.

In May, the CEA proposed a 3 percent salary increase for teachers and 4 percent for other employees in 2009-10, and a 2.5 percent increase for the subsequent two years.

In contrast, the BOE proposed a 2 percent increase for all employees that worked in 2009-10, no increase this year, and a 2 percent increase in the next.

After the settlement, both sides concluded that the Board of Education has been under duress due to state cuts – and did what they could to compromise. 

"We try to be respectful of the community and of the teachers, we work to give the association as much as we felt we could fiscally afford," Mary Sudiak said, Board of Education member.

Lambe said via e-mail that the union, by ratifying the contract, proved they were team players.

"They recognized that the district needed them to take much lower increases to keep programs and jobs in place, and they stepped up to the plate and accepted the board's offer. I am confident that the Superintendent, the members of the Board of Education and the CEA will continue to work together with a team approach in mind to give the children of Cranford the very best," Lambe said.