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Negotiations between the Association of Pleasanton Teachers and the Pleasanton Unified School District have continued to stay at a standstill following an all-day bargaining session on Tuesday.
As of time of publication, there were no new updates on the negotiation efforts, according to APT President Cheryl Atkins. She also told the Weekly that following the session, both parties agreed to reconvene next Tuesday (Oct. 24).
“We are committed to working with our labor partners to reach an agreement,” PUSD Director of Communications Patrick Gannon told the Weekly.
While Atkins said she couldn’t share specifics about the Tuesday session, she did say “it is always the intent to move closer to a deal and that is what we are trying to do with another day of negotiations.”
In May 2022, both sides approved a new collective bargaining agreement that included a 3.25% salary increase and 2% additional compensation benefits. The contract, which is open for negotiations every three years, covers the next three academic years.
The contract also included a one-year settlement for the 2022-23 portion of the agreement and health benefits for employees in line with CalPERS health benefits — a maximum of $5,000 including all CalPERS-required contributions.
In addition to the salary raise, another 0.25% was added to the increase with the approval of a 2022 Public Agency Retirement Services memorandum of understanding for retirement incentive. This brought the total salary increase to 3.5% in the ratified 2022-23 APT contract.
However, each year the APT and district representatives get the opportunity to open articles — such as salary, calendar and benefits — in the contract to renegotiate, which is what is going on right now.
According to the APT’s website, the union is demanding a 15% salary increase as well as fully paid health benefits, reduced class sizes and changes to the school year work calendar stating that the district must allocate new ongoing money it received from the state toward paying teachers.
“We continue to stand by our guiding principles which is giving Pleasanton students the best and that also means the best educators both attracting and retaining,” Atkins said. “As already stated, the district received a large percentage increase (of ongoing money) last year, 13.26%, and more this year, 8.22%.”
Atkins explained to the school board during the Oct. 12 board meeting — where dozens of PUSD teachers packed the board meeting room and hallway — that the district has no excuse given the new funds and needs to prioritize properly compensating its educators.
“We are asking that they prioritize their budget to put students first and give us a fair share of the money they received,” Atkins said.
She previously told the Weekly that while the union has not voted on authorizing a strike and is not at an impasse with the district, they are not happy with the district’s previous offer of a 6.3% pay raise, which is why teachers are taking a stand and showed out to the last board meeting on their own volition.
“Teachers are trying to use actions now to spread awareness and get the school board to direct district management to repurpose their budget so we don’t have to get to a strike,” Atkins said.
A petition to demand the district prioritize teachers’ salary and health benefits, which was posted on change.org on Monday, has also been gaining traction online with nearly 1,300 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon.
Does anyone know the history of why the union and not the school board sets the calendar for our district? It seems insane to me that the union seems to have total control over setting the calendar.
I don’t know the history – but both unions (not just APT) and the HR department work together to plan the calendar. There are state EdCode requirements for the number of hours required for AP classes, general instruction, etc., and then annual and federal holidays need to be factored in to the schedule to meet those requirements.
Negotiations update: Impasse was just declared.