Salem Pay Increase Gap Remains In Teacher Contract Talks

SALEM, MA — While the Salem School Committee Negotiating Team and Salem Teachers Union both reported agreement on many issues following Monday's marathon bargaining session, there appears to remain a large gap when it comes to compensation increases with the current collective bargaining agreement set to expire in weeks.

Salem Teachers Association Vice President Karen Tucker said in a statement following what she called a "highly substantive" 4.5-hour bargaining session that the union presented a deal that includes "a reasonable wage proposal that stretches out increases over four years and gets Salem to a place where it is competitive with surrounding districts."

But the School Committee said in a statement on Tuesday morning that the STU proposal would require the district to identify $58 million in staff and service cuts over four years within a budget that this year is $74.5 million in total. The School Committee said its previous proposal would still require $20 million over three years.

"Twenty million in cost savings will be difficult," the School Committee said in a statement. "But we strongly believe it is worth doing to maintain and attract strong teachers."

The School Committee said its proposal from two weeks ago would raise most Salem educators' pay by 14 percent over the next three years, and some by as many as 27 percent over three years, and includes an 11 percent pay increase for paraprofessionals and an 8.5 percent for other support staff.

(More on Patch: Salem Teacher Contract Proposal To Include Raises, Require Reductions: School Committee)

"We hope to negotiate the STU in a productive conversation about city and district finances and reach an agreement that compensates teachers fairly without compromising supports and services for students," the School Committee said on Tuesday.

Two areas where the sides appeared moving toward agreement were an extended paid family leave provision and a universal length of the school day across the district — whereas now some schools are in session more than seven hours and others as little as 6 hours, 5 minutes.

The STU said it was open to the 7 hours, 5 minutes for all schools — as long as those soon to be working longer school days are paid for the extra time.

"We told them we were open to extending and standardizing the workday but not without additional compensation," Tucker said. "In order to do that, we proposed extending elementary education time by about 30 minutes with an equivalent 4 percent pay raise over four years."

"Ultimately, we are standing strong to get a great contract for both teachers and paras, and not accepting the district's austerity framing," she concluded.

The next negotiating session is scheduled for Aug. 20.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)