Update: Meetings and Bargaining
At the request of the union,
Mitchell Chester, the Commissioner of the Department of Elementary and
Secondary Education, and Jane Tewksbury, the Commissioner of the
Department of Youth Services, met with a delegation of HEC educators on
October 27. We wanted to talk to them directly about conditions on the
ground in our programs. Attending were Karen Creery, Heather Duhamel,
Jeanne Voss, Gary Floyd and Katherine Leach. We told the commissioners
about our commitment to the students we work with, and our desire to
make HEC a better place to recruit and retain experienced educators. We
told them of the negative effect of their decision to increase hours
without compensating people for the extra time worked. We spoke of ways
to improve professional development at the agency. We gave them much to
think about and came away knowing that they now have a unfiltered view
of conditions in the agency. The Patrick Administration will be
following up with the union on these issues in the near future.
Earlier
this month, a group of HEC teachers and labor union supporters from
Western Mass attended a HEC Board of Governors meeting. Led by Local
509 President Michael Grunko, the delegation conveyed to the Board that
we are committed to improving the quality of education in HEC programs
and that HEC educators should have parity with state teachers and other
public school educators in regard to salary and hours of work.
Over
the past two months, there has been much activity directed towards
representing members of the bargaining unit and getting our first
contract settled. The union has been representing individual employees
concerning layoffs, terminations, and disciplinary matters, as well as
payroll errors. Some cases are proceeding to hearings at the Mass.
Division of Labor Relations. We’ve held five bargaining sessions since
school started and we are making slow but steady progress. Negotiating
a first contract always takes a little longer, but we are well on our
way to settling the contract. Recently, we came to agreement on a
variety of leave without pay provisions and at our last session
management proposed increasing bereavement leave. Management also made
a positive proposal on paying employees extra money when they work in a
higher classification.
Stay tuned for more developments.
SEIU Local 509 represents both educators at HEC and teachers who work
for the state. Many state teachers, particularly those funded by DOE,
work alongside or near HEC teachers in similar programs.
During contract negotiations for state teachers, the union made a big
deal about the low wages, poor benefits, and long work hours of
collaborative educators. We even held up negotiations until this issue
could be settled.
As a result, the state and the union have signed a
Memorandum of Understanding
committing the Patrick Administration - including DYS and DOE managers
- to meet with the union and workers from HEC to address issues such as
wages, length of work day, and school year.
