Protest Fails to Break Teacher's Contract Impasse

No contract settlement was reached Wednesday night between borough schools and its teachers after a marathon, seven-hour meeting at the Central School, school board President Steve Weinstein said Thursday.

The teachers' contract expired last June. They have continued to work under the existing contract Weinstein said.

The teachers staged an impromptu, noisy demonstration Wednesday before the meeting, marching down Kings Highway to the Central School and holding a brief rally outside.

“I walked by it going into the mediation,” Weinstein said. “The teachers are as frustrated with the lack of settlement as the board is. They were friendly. No one was shouting nasty things. The ones I knew said hello. I assume they would like to see a settlement, as would we.”

Haddonfield Education Association co-President Sharon Stokes, a teacher at Haddonfield Memorial High School, did not immediately return a phone call for comment Thursday morning.

Weinstein said he did not want to negotiate in public, but said some sticking points in resolving the dispute mirror issues raised by Gov. Chris Christie concerning how much teachers contribute to health care costs.

“The issues concerning publicly funded contracts have been discussed at length by the governor and the Legislature and are similar here,” Weinstein said. “It's no secret the sticking points are the same as most districts have: how to balance the salary and health costs which continue to rise with a 2-percent cap.”

The next step for the stalled negotiations is a state fact finder, Weinstein said.  The two sides have held several meetings with a state mediator, like the marathon talks Wednesday night into Thursday morning.

It’s illegal for teachers to strike in New Jersey but Weinstein said he didn’t want to speak for the teachers about what their next move could be.

The school board president said not being able to come to terms on a contract is new ground for him after 12 years on the board. He said both sides were able to come to agreements in three previous contract negotiations he has been involved with. Previously, the sides have used what he called a “Win-Win” negotiator to craft a deal beneficial to both sides.

This year’s rift, however, seemed too wide for that, he said.

In addition to health care costs, salary is always a key issue in labor negotiations.  Weinstein said there is no “line-item” in the $31.9 million school board budget voters approved last week for salary increases for teachers.

He said if salary increases are granted in a new contract, the board will have to cut spending elsewhere.