D229 Teachers Union Accepts Cuts to Scheduled Raises

Watch the video of the historic vote in the gallery.

Teachers Union voted overwhelmingly in favor of a contract amendment to cut teachers’ raises by 6 percent over the next two years.

Teachers voted throughout the day on Tuesday 146-29 to accept the D229 Board of Education’sto cut raises, thus avoiding layoffs of 33 staff members.

The school board approved the amendment to teachers’ 2008 collective bargaining agreement at a special board meeting on Tuesday night.

“Clearly, the union, board and administration put students first in this entire process,” D229 Supt. Michael Riordan said. “This was certainly a meeting of the minds. We all worked very hard together to find this alternative solution instead of letting go of 33 staff members this year and obviously significantly reducing opportunities for students.”

The teachers’ union agreed to take a cut in salary raises that members were scheduled to receive the last two years of their five-year contract. Teachers still get to keep their annual STEP increases of 2 and 3 percent.

The salary concessions do not affect support staff’s raises over the next two years—secretaries, instructional aides and custodians—who also belong to the teachers union.

“The support staff salaries were nowhere to the degree that teachers raises were in the contract as it is already,” Riordan said after the meeting. “Their raises were only 2.5 percent and 3 ¾ percent per year as opposed to the larger raises of teachers. Plus, there is a lot less of them and so in terms of savings, the teachers’ salaries were where the biggest expense was.”

D229 Board President Stephen Trotto, who is up for to a two-year term on the school board next week, said that teachers accepting cuts in salary increases avoids a looming $2 million budget deficit over the next several years.

“Without this we would have deficits going up geometrically,” Trotto said. “We’ll finish the school year off with a balanced budget with no deficits. We won’t have to reach out to our taxpayers hopefully for years to come, because I am one.”

A handful of parents and students were on hand for the meeting. Oak Lawn student Greg Franks, who plays electric bass in the school’s band program and spoke to board members at an emotion-packed board on March 16, thought the agreement was fair.

“I’ve seen what happens to a school when you fire certain teachers,” said Franks, whose favorite band teacher was on the chopping block. “I was at when teachers left because of budget problems. Kids didn’t really respect the school anymore and had no reason to go there. They got rid of three really good teachers.

“What had to be done was needed to keep the school a well-lubricated machine,” Franks added. “You can’t take a part out of an engine and expect it to work. Taking these teachers away would have done that.”

Dave Barker, an alumni and parent of a daughter in her senior year, said the outcome of the teachers’ vote was better than the alternative of diminished opportunities for students.

“I’ve lived in the community my entire life,” Barker said. “It’s the world’s oldest saying: ‘The homes are as good as the schools.’ This is a comfort. Bad times won’t last forever and I’m relieved that something was resolved that did not result in the loss of jobs.”

Riordan said he, too, was relieved by the union vote’s outcome.

“I can get to work on our master schedule so we can get our kids all the courses they requested,” Riordan said. “That was obviously on hold until we knew whether we were able to support those programs. Now we can move forward to planning that for next year.”