The 22 members of the custodial union reached an agreement last night with the School Committee on a new three year deal.The contract will give them a 4% raise over 3 years, with the possibility of an additional .5% for the third year.
A one year trial period has been instituted in which any event held at the school with 15 or few people would not require the presence of a janitor in the building.If at the end of the year the union agrees to keep that provision in place, they will receive an additional .5% raise.Without the additional boost they will receive a 1% increase for last year, a 1% increase for the current year, and a 2% increase next year.
Negotiations are currently ongoing with the teachers, by far largest School Department union.Several dozen teachers attended the School Committee’s meeting on Wednesday night to present a petition, signed by approximately 150 teachers, urging the Committee to give them a fair contract.
“We want to impress upon you,” Dedham Education Association President Tim Dwyer said, “our desire to settle this contract in a fair and just manner, and get on the business of teaching school, being a nurse in a school, being a therapist in a school, in short, the business of being in the schools. We very much want to finish this school year and start the next school year without the distraction of negotiating a contract and its associated activities.”
The two principal members of the Committee’s negotiating team, Margaret Matthews and Joanne Flatley, both lost their bids for reelection earlier this month.Tracy Driscoll, as chairman of the Committee, had been sitting in on the negotiations.Newly elected Chairman Dave Roberts, who won his reelection bid, appointed Driscoll to the negotiating team.
Matthews and Flatley were two of the four votes who gave Driscoll an unusual second term as chairman last year in a divided vote.With their loss, Driscoll did not have the votes to remain in the chair and stepped down. She was one of six to cast their vote for Roberts as chair.
The only member who did not was newly elected member Joe Heisler.Heisler said he favored another member as chair, though would not say who that person was.Heisler also voted present during the election of Margaret Connolly as vice chairman.
Connolly, who is in her second term, is up for reelection next year.She said she had no concerns that she or the Committee could face a similar
predicamentas they faced at this meeting, the first since the election.Matthews had been vice chair last year, but with her loss was not able to rise to the chairmanship.
“I’m not looking that far ahead,” Connolly said after the meeting.“I’m only worried about right now.”
Negotiations with the teachers are currently in mediation, though a new meeting date with them has not been set.Sources say they had not been going well prior to the election.The negotiating team thus does not need to be immediately populated with additional members, Roberts said.
The School Committee has yet to begin negotiations with Title I employees or the traffic directors.
The deal agreed to with the janitors is less generous than recent agreements with other unions.In January the secretaries received a 4.5% raise over three years, and in March the assistant principals and directors received a similar deal.
Superintendent June Doe inked a new three year deal in January as well, giving her a $2,000 raise plus a for the current year and then a minimum of 2% raise for each of the next two years.Doe will also receive a $9,000 payment to an annuity of her choice, up from $5,000.The Committee “will consider a higher merit increase should the Superintendent’s performance warrant a higher increase.”
The teachers’ union recently rejected an offer of 1% in the first year, 2% in the second, and then 2% with a 1% additional increase halfway through the third year. Roberts said he was confident a fair contract could be reached.
