Janesville school unions request new contract
JANESVILLE — Three union locals representing Janesville School District employees Monday requested negotiations on a new contract.
Superintendent Karen Schulte said she would not want to bargain until it's clear what the law allows.
Teachers union President Dave Parr said the unions' offer would benefit both sides as well as students and save the district "millions of dollars."
Parr would not go into details, saying that has to wait until the unions and district officials sit down to negotiate.
The unions made their move 10 days after a Dane County judge struck down portions of the controversial Wisconsin Act 10.
The law restricted collective bargaining by most public employees and led to massive protests in Madison last year.
The state has asked the judge to stay his judgment pending an appeal. Meanwhile, Dane County workers already have a new contract, and Madison city workers are close to achieving the same.
Both sides were willing to reach agreement in the Madison and Dane County cases, said Peter Davis, legal counsel for the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission, but without mutual agreement, "It's fuzzy out there. There's no clear right or wrong answer as to how an employer should behave at this point."
Act 10 allowed negotiations only on base wages.
The judge's ruling did not define wages, so it's not clear whether "wages" also means benefits, Schulte said.
Schulte said without knowing what can be bargained, "it wouldn't make any sense, and I don't want to waste anybody's time, so we need to be clear what it is we're bargaining on."
Parr said lawyers for the state teachers union have told him they believe working conditions and benefits can be bargained now.
Davis said no one knows whether the court ruling requires an employer to bargain on anything other than base wages.
"Some people think it has opened the door, and other people think it only applies to the parties (who were involved in the original Dane County lawsuit)," Davis said.
"I think the board is understanding and respectful of the duty the board has to bargain ... but as it stands now, I think the aspects of what that bargaining is, is still really unclear," Schulte said.
The Janesville unions have contracts that end June 30, 2013. They are asking for a contract that begins July 1, 2013.
"The future of the school district and Janesville's kids is best served by talking to one another," according to a letter sent Monday by the union leaders representing teachers, custodians, maintenance and food service workers, secretaries, clerks and aides.
"We look forward to your prompt reply and anticipate a positive cooperative relationship to bolster education in Janesville," the letter states.
Schulte said she wants to give the unions "a timely response."
Parr said that even if the judge's ruling were overturned, both sides would benefit by postponing action on an employee handbook, the document that would define benefits and working conditions after the last contract runs out.
"No matter what happens in Madison, we're going to do the right thing for the students here in Janesville," Parr said.
School board President Bill Sodemann said he couldn't say much before hearing from legal counsel. He said it's too late to get the topic on agendas for the school board meetings scheduled for tonight.
"We will hear whatever is appropriate when it's appropriate, so sure, we're always willing to listen," Sodemann said.
School board Vice President Kevin Murray noted that the board had asked the unions to negotiate concessions several times in the past two years, and the unions refused.
"So yeah, let's negotiate. Let's hear what they have to say," Murray said.
Parr said the district's three union groups have never sat down to negotiate together before.
Sep 29, 2012 at 8:58 p.m.
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Sorry, whythink, that was actually my mistake. ALLin -- is the originator of that on this series of comments. "Fire them all" sounds like a statement from someone who has no connection with reality.
Sep 29, 2012 at 8:54 p.m.
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"fire them all" is a perfect reflection of your moniker: Whythink
Sep 27, 2012 at 11:27 p.m.
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"Act 10 allowed negotiations only on base wages. The judge's ruling did not define wages, so it's not clear whether "wages" also means benefits, Schulte said." Duh. Of course it doesn't. Look it up.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/b...
Sep 27, 2012 at 12:02 p.m.
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"fire them all"
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And you wonder why the things are the way they are. More generalizations from a vocal minority of the population.
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Anyone who says "them all" is IGNORANT! Too lazy to think for themselves.
Sep 27, 2012 at 9:05 a.m.
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Very few local students take the SAT. The big one is the ACT. Wisconsin always is among the national leaders on the ACT. Janesville ACT results could be better. Here's the latest we have had about that:
http://www.gazettextra.com/news/2012/aug...
--Gazette reporter Frank Schultz
Sep 26, 2012 at 11:30 p.m.
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""the courts will have struck down the Madison judge who let his politics color his interpretation of the law.""
WRONG!! This judge is doing his job and interpreting the constitution, its called equal protection. Had Walker included the Police and public safety unions in this there would have been no case!! Excellent article in the Marquette Law School website:
http://law.marquette.edu/facultyblog/201...
Eh but what does a LAW SCHOOL know about the LAW and the constitution? Its all about ONE judge in Dane county's politics, right? And not at all about the IMPARTIAL supreme court in our state and their rulings right??? Give me a break!! you people need some new talking points!! The Gov and his people were counting on a conservative supreme court when they created this law, they knew theyd need them!! Why did conservatives push so hard for Justice Choker??? You be the judge, pardon pun.
Sep 26, 2012 at 3:27 p.m.
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Maybe they can bring in the Voucher Referees that the NFL is using to arbitrate.
Sep 26, 2012 at 1:39 p.m.
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theflick-Im sure every teacher would accept your proposal, no joke.
Sep 26, 2012 at 1:25 p.m.
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The school board can drag its feet (if it has the will to do so) for at least 2 years on this. By then, the courts will have struck down the Madison judge who let his politics color his interpretation of the law.
Sep 26, 2012 at 12:24 p.m.
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So according to the JS article, nationwide SAT scores are down. This article is about Janesville schools. How does this affect Janesville?
Sep 26, 2012 at 12:10 p.m.
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sorry..."...far from the truth"...for you spelling /grammar police out there.
Sep 26, 2012 at 12:08 p.m.
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Truthteller...REALLY? Do you believe everything you watch on TV too? Just because something is written on the internet makes if far from trutch...man you people are ignorant...like bunch of lemmings...you all follow each other off the cliff.
Sep 26, 2012 at 12:06 p.m.
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Ahhh yes...let the bashing begin.
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ALLin...you're joking right? Your line of thought of firing all the teachers because of a select few (most not from Janesville)is very flawed. I can give you an example of an irresponsible or bad worker in every profession on earth! Should we fire everyone and let the national guard do their jobs as well. You should try thinking just a little before putting down a line of absolute garbage that at its best is laughable. Although, you did a good job of stirring up the like minded or should I say like MINDLESS.
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Most level headed teachers would have agreed with less push back had there been more honesty in the whole process. I'm all for busting unions but it could have been rolled out better. Maybe add their insurance costs in over a year so they have time to adjust rather than taking a 17% slam all at once. When my company made wage adjustments last year that is what they did...they did it in quarters so people could adjust to lower pay over time.
If you make them pay their pensions and make them help out with health insurance why take the rest of the bargaining rights away? I think teachers should have the right to bargain class size...they know best what works best. They left them the right to bargain wages so what did ending all collective bargaining solve?
Sep 26, 2012 at 11:44 a.m.
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How about some of the bashers do the jobs some of us school employees do for a week and THEN tell us we are over paid.
Sep 26, 2012 at 9:44 a.m.
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And as usual; "It's all about the Childrern".
Sep 26, 2012 at 8:31 a.m.
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Fire them all. There are tens of thousands of out of work teachers in this country looking for work. As pointed out the one here don't seem to be getting the job done anyways.
Sep 26, 2012 at 7:32 a.m.
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theflick- LOL...exactly.....How do some people think they have the right to stick out like a sore thumb and demand something when the rest are down to zero, zip, denada....
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Prison guards are a whole nother story, THOSE folks have some legitimate grievances going down...
Sep 26, 2012 at 7:25 a.m.
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Murray sounds like he's put up his dukes and is ready for a fight. Please keep some civility to this whole process - the kids are listening...
Sep 26, 2012 at 6:07 a.m.
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Nobody takes the SAT any more. It is the ACT. Welcome to the 21st century.
Sep 25, 2012 at 11:57 p.m.
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424...
Article shows SAT scores at an all time low, at all levels.
Sep 25, 2012 at 10:50 p.m.
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He probably sleeps just fine because he believes what he is shoveling. Its odd how quickly his tune changes in such a short period of time. Don't forget "it's all for the kids" and "because every kids deserves a great school!" LOL!
Sep 25, 2012 at 9:23 p.m.
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How does Parr sleep at night?
Sep 25, 2012 at 8:16 p.m.
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And I request to lower my taxes!
Sep 25, 2012 at 7:48 p.m.
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Just curious, but is the JEA going to show solidarity with the NFL officials union by boycotting all NFL games until the labor dispute is settled?
That means not going to the games or even watching on TV or listening on the radio.
Solidarity forever.
Sep 25, 2012 at 7:10 p.m.
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I hope the school board has enough brains or education to deny the unions request. The right to work should be in play and not a closed shop.
Sep 25, 2012 at 6:31 p.m.
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SAT reading scores are currently at the lowest in 40 years (496 - down 34 points in a gradual decline from 1972) - this shouldn't surprise anyone as our population of immigrants continues to increase. Nearly half of those taking the SATs this year were racial or ethnic minorities, and one fourth did not speak English at home. It's a bit harder to score well on an English reading exam when English isn't your primary language.
Math scores are fairly steady at 514 - 6 points off the 2005 peak of 520, but 5 points above the level in 1972. The difference is that math generally transcends language. So it's not a matter of the teachers not doing their jobs, it's a matter of shifting demographics.
Sep 25, 2012 at 6:13 p.m.
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Maybe students aren't holding up their end and that is why SAT scores are low. Maybe parents aren't holding up their end by ensuring students are engaged in the school setting. Maybe the community has consistly undervalued the importance of being "educated". Maybe the SAT score isn't the end-all/be-all of assessing student learning and teacher teaching. Maybe we should be very careful what we wish for by only being concerned about a test score...we just might get it and discover it's not what we really wanted all along.
Sep 25, 2012 at 6 p.m.
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S.A.T. scores are the lowest in 40 years
can you verify that?
Sep 25, 2012 at 5:57 p.m.
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S.A.T. scores are the lowest in 40 years - the teachers have not been doing their jobs. Some skip school to go to union sponsored rallys - fire them all.
Sep 25, 2012 at 5:55 p.m.
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Fire all of the teachers and let the National Guard teach the students.
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