June 23, 2005
The
Detroit Federation of Teachers has won its fight to prevent the
school year.
In
an agreement reached June 20, the district has agreed to pay the full
amount of
all salary earned by DFT members during the 2004-05 school
year
for all DFT members,
including those who receive 26 paychecks a
year and
those who retire by Sept. 1, 2005.
The
agreement means that wages earned by DFT members for the just
concluded
school year are safe from the cuts (either 10 percent in
wages and
benefits
or 11.4 percent in wages only), which the district
has
been demanding since January 2005. The agreement applies only
to the 2004-05 school year.
“This
is a clear victory for our members,” said DFT President
Janna K.
Garrison.
“It was a long and difficult process, but we
prevailed, thanks
to the unflinching support
of our membership and
the hard work of many
people, including attorney Eileen Nowikowski,
and DFT Financial Analyst
Patrick Falcusan.”
Had
the pay cut taken effect, a DFT member on the top tier of the pay
scale
would have
lost about $4,000 in wages between January and June.
The DFT
pay scale would have
plummeted to the bottom of pay rates
for teachers in
the tri-country area.
Under
the terms of the accord, the DFT withdrew its petition for
fact finding,
and agreed that
the union and the district had reached
impasse (were
unable to come to terms) on wage
negotiations
for 2004-05.
When negotiating parties arrive at such an impasse,
the employer
can impose its last offer before impasse.
That’s
what the district did – on paper.
Although
the district did not cut actual wages earned in 2004-05, it
did impose an
11.4 percent
cut on the wage scale for the 2004-05
school year. The
district’s action has no effect whatever
on this
year’s earned salary.
The district will not try to recover any funds.
However, the cut is
significant in that it will affect wage
negotiations
as the district and the union bargain a new
contract for the
2005-2006
school year.
DFT
President Janna K. Garrison said the district is using impasse in
an
attempt
to “back-door” a wage cut for 2005-2006.
“The June 20
agreement covered only
the 2004-2005 wages,”
Garrison said. “The
wages for 2005-2006 have to be negotiated.
We are
not about to accept
a pay cut for 2005-2006
We
will fight it just like we fought this year’s pay cut.”
Much
of this year has been spent fighting the district over jobs and wages.
At
the start of the 2004-2005 school year, the DFT went to arbitration
because the
district refused to pay the 3-4.1 percent raise due
DFT
members. The battle over the
arbitrary freezing of DFT wages finally
ended
in June 2005 when the arbitrator ruled in
favor of the district.
In
early 2005 the union went to mediation and ultimately fact finding in
a
successful effort
to stave off the pay cut.
Agreement
Between
The School District of the City of Detroit
And
The
Detroit Federation of Teachers
WHEREAS, the parties to this Agreement engaged in bargaining over
the issue of the
2004-2005 wages; and
WHEREAS, the parties reached impasse and, as such, the DFT filed
for fact
finding; and
WHEREAS, the parties have not changed their respective bargaining positions;
THEREFORE, by their representatives’ signatures below, the
parties agree
as follows:
1. The District agrees that all salary earned during the 2004-2005
contract year shall be paid
at the 2004-2005 rate (frozen
2003-2004 salary
level with step increases) regardless of
whether all 2004-2005 payroll has
been issued. This includes,
but is not limited to, members
who retire under the current
Collective
Bargaining Agreement by September 1, 2005, and
those members who receive
26 paychecks.
2.
The Detroit Federation of Teachers hereby withdraws its Petition
for Fact Finding for
the 2004-2005 wage re-opener, with
prejudice, and
agrees that the parties are
at impasse in terms
of negotiations over the
2004-2005 wages and it will not re-file
for fact finding over this issue.
3.
The fact that the District has agreed to the terms of
Paragraph 1,
above, does not
prejudice its legal position
in any manner.
FOR THE DETROIT FEDERATION
FOR THE SCHOOL
OF TEACHERS DISTRICT OF
THE
OF TEACHERS: CITY OF DETROIT:
_/s/ Janna K. Garrison______________ /s/ Debra F.. Williams___________
_________________________________ ______________________________
_________________________________ ______________________________
Dated:______6/20/05 ____________ Dated:________6/20/05________ _