As the Union’s bargaining team continues to progress in its contract negotiations with the School Administration and the state, we wanted to give you a brief update regarding where things currently stand.
The Bargaining team has been meeting regularly – often multiple times per week – with negotiators from management since September. Because this is our first union contract, there has been much to be discussed. First contracts are almost always historic first steps that move the workers closer to the goals their members want to achieve; they are first steps workers take in a fight to make our work-lives and our school much better.
As UAW President Shawn Fain recently put it regarding their recent contract talks with the Big Three automakers: “We didn’t get everything we wanted, but addressed every issue in some way. There is still work to be done. The membership had high expectations, and I’m proud of that. I want them to have high expectations, and we’re going to build on that.”
The union has brought robust proposals to the table, and these proposals were based on our members' priorities, both through individual conversations, and the bargaining survey we sent out back in August. Those proposals included language that would:
- Convert a number of contractual positions to permanent PIN positions;
- Unfreeze annual step increases, especially for those employees who have been at the school the longest and thus have had their steps frozen the longest;
- Develop a more consistent, professional process by which a member may be evaluated, as well as a real, objective dispute resolution process;
- Propose limits on class size;
- And many others (nearly 40 articles and proposals from the union side!)
At this point, the team are still volunteering their work to get us across the finish line and come to a tentative agreement by the statutorily required deadline of December 31st. As of yet, we have not reached an agreement with management on any of the core issues listed above. We do believe management is really getting a strong sense of our concerns, and how a proper resolution to these issues not only would benefit the employees of the school, but improve the educational outcomes for our students and improve the functioning of the school.
Once a tentative agreement has been reached, the membership will have the opportunity to vote on its ratification. We will inform you all of the draft of the agreement when it has been reached, and schedule multiple Q&A sessions with the members about what it all means.
In solidarity,
Maryland School for the Deaf Faculty and Staff Association
Local 4828, AFT, AFL-CIO