Your Bargaining Team met with the Mediator for the 9th time in our ongoing effort to negotiate a three year successor contract with MDUSD. Early on, it became apparent that the District had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING NEW to offer. They communicated through the Mediator that they had not had sufficient time to “assimilate” the Governor’s May Revise and; therefore, could not respond to our settlement proposal of April 7, 2008.

Talks continued in early afternoon in regard to summer school rates. The District resubmitted a tiered summer school rate proposal identical to the one our Rep Assembly turned down during our February and March 2008 meetings.
Your Bargaining Team views this as another attempt to divide teachers.

MDEA offered to sever summer school rates at our current hourly proposal of $34.00; however, the District would not entertain a “flat rate” for summer school. This is significant, since the difference between our proposal and last year’s summer school labor costs equates to roughly $0.90 per hour. MDEA believes that all teachers who perform the same summer school work should receive equitable compensation for their efforts. The District, apparently, believes summer school teachers’ efforts aren’t worth an extra $0.90 an hour. If you think your time is worth an extra $0.90 per hour, let the Board know.

Contact Board members via e-mail on the District website.

We have scheduled two additional Mediation days with the District on May 29, 2008 and again on June 13, 2008, to give them additional time to “assimilate” the impact of the May Revise on their budget.

Unless the Board moves to settle the contract at our final two sessions, we will likely be starting a second school year without a contract in the fall.

Is The “Iron” Hot?

 MDEA/CTA/NEA