CSEA and district ratify contract agreement


 


WEBUTUCK - After more than 20 months of negotiation, the district's Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) has reached a contract agreement with the district.

The CSEA represents civil service employees, including teacher's assistants, bus drivers, custodial workers and school nurses. They have been without a contract for more than a year and a half. That changed Tuesday night after the new contract was ratified.

Union leader Doris Ostrander said the contract is "do-able."

"Actually, we should have been at this point 20 months ago because this is exactly what we offered them in the first place," Ostrander said. "It isn't that I'm not happy with the contract. I just think it is a shame that [the district] has wasted this much time to get to this spot. We would have gotten to this decision right away at the very beginning if we had only met face to face and it would have saved a lot of time, aggravation and money."

According to a press release issued by district Superintendent Richard Johns, the new contract provides a 4 percent salary increase for each of the four years it's in effect, from 2006 to 2010. The district also gains the ability to hire individuals for a new work shift that lasts from Tuesday until Saturday.

The remainder of the old contract will stay intact.

"I think the union membership has been wanting a contract for months and they certainly have said that to me," Johns said. "The board has said that we needed to get back to the bargaining table. There was one minor change in the contract where we have more flexibility in terms of workday and work week for workers."

Meanwhile, the district is still at an impasse with the Webutuck Teachers Association (WTA). The WTA has been without a contract for over a year.

In a previous interview, Johns said the issues with the teachers' contract are over work day hours, salary and health insurance.

"[Negotiations] are stuck at an impasse and hopefully it will break through," he said. "Certainly there are some bright lights now and then, but you are stuck until you are unstuck."

Nancy Gagne, head of the WTA, did not return calls for comment before press time.

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