D15, Support Staff Union Agree On Tentative Contract

PALATINE, IL — A tentative contract has been reached between Community Consolidated School District 15 and the union representing the school system's educational support staffers. The district's more than 450 secretaries, nurses, sign language interpreters and other clerical employees have been working without a contract since July, and workers briefly went on strike in October.

The district and the Educational Support Personnel Association, the union representing the staffers, agreed on the proposed, multiyear deal late last week, according to the Daily Herald. Members of the union, which is part of the Illinois Education Association, will vote on the contract Thursday, Feb. 15, before it goes before the school board for approval Feb. 21, the report stated. The contract's details won't be released until the deal is official, the report added.

Both sides began negotiating a new agreement in last February, and talks had been ongoing since then. The union rejected the district's proposed five-year offer, which would have given support staff yearly 2 percent raises and individual retirement benefits of $9,000 for the first three years of the contract. The union, however, had asked for an average 2.5 percent salary hike over five years, arguing that many of its members earned only between $11 and $13 an hour.

More Patch Coverage:

• District 15 Support Staffers Go On Strike
• District Schools Will Stay Open During Strike
• Nurses, Special Ed Aides Must Return To Work: Judge
• District 15 Strike: Nurses, Classroom Aides Can Join Picket Line
• District Needs To Provide Financial Info: Support Staff Union

Talks grew contentious, which eventually led to a strike Oct. 16. Initially, a Cook County judge prohibited school nurses and special education classroom aides from striking, claiming that such a work stoppage endangered the health and safety of students under the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act.

A temporary restraining order forced those 168 employees off the picket line Oct. 17, but that order was lifted Oct. 24, and the workers were allowed to strike again. But employees returned to work shortly after district officials threatened to hire replacement workers for striking staffers by the end of the month.

More via the Daily Herald

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