Amherst Pelham Educators Reject Latest Contract Offer. Bargaining To Continue On June 7

All bargaining units of The Amherst Pelham Education Association (APEA) voted on May 29, to reject the latest district contract offer and to continue bargaining. The educators and the school district were reported to be close to an agreement following their bargaining session on May 2. Following the May 2 session, regional school committee Chair Ben Herrington announced that the offer tendered by the school committee was their last best offer and that if the union did not accept that offer, the district would not return to bargaining but instead seek to enter fact finding.   Under fact finding, the Mass Department of Labor Relations (DLR) would appoint a fact finder to assess the facts of the case and make recommendations for resolution of the impasse. If the parties are unable to reach agreement after the fact-finder issues his/her report, the DLR mediator contacts the parties and schedules additional mediation to assist them in resolving the dispute. If the Director believes that no additional mediation will resolve the impasse, the mediator no longer works with the parties on impasse.

According to the APEA, the DLR found that the APEA has been negotiating in good faith and hence declined to call an impasse. As a result, the district returned to the bargaining table on May 24., but failed to reach an agreement with the union. The next bargaining session will be on June 7. The union and the district have been negotiating a new contract for the last 16 months.

The apparent current sticking point is starting salary for paraeducators. The union is seeking $20.50/hour while the school district was offering $18.33 at the May 2 bargaining session and $19.63 at the most recent session on May 24.

According to the National Education Association the average annual education support professional salary in Massachusetts is $37,080. The average starting teacher salary in Massachusetts is $49,503. The average teacher salary is $89,538.

Statements From The APEA and From the school district concerning the most recent bargaining session are posted below.

APEA’s Statement On The May 25 Bargaining Session
On May 29, 2023 all APEA collective bargaining units voted not to ratify their contracts proposed by the School Committee.  The School Committee continues to claim that it cannot pay paraeducators $20.50hr, while over the past year it has hired most paraeducators at a rate of over $25hr, and over the past few years at an average of over $21hr.  The School Committee has yet to deny the truth of this statement, and insists that they are unable to move any further to pay paraeducators a living wage, while hiring and paying paras at rates way above what we are asking.  The School Committee claims that these higher rates are due to experience and education, but have refused to accept any of our proposals aimed at determining pay based on education and experience.  The attempts we’ve made to resolve inequitable hiring practices have been largely ignored.  The School Committee presented their last best offer, but the Department of Labor Relations mediator has refused to call an impasse considering that the APEA has been negotiating in good faith.  Our next negotiations session is June 7, 2023.  After this session, the APEA will once again ask its members to vote on whether or not to accept the School Committee’s proposal.  Hopefully the School Committee will make an offer that the APEA bargaining team can endorse.

For more information, contact: executiveboard@amherstpelhamed.org

The Amherst Regional Public Schools Statement On The May 25 Bargaining Session
We would like to provide an update regarding our contract negotiations with the Amherst Pelham Educators Association (APEA), the union that represents teachers, paraeducators, and clerical staff in our three school districts (Amherst elementary, Pelham elementary, and Regional). 

After 6 months of negotiation and 9 months of mediation, we presented our last best offer on May 2, 2023 which included cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) of 9% over the 3-year contract (3% per year). We also offered an increase to the minimum wage for paraeducators from $17.13 to $18.33, added an additional 3.5% increase for paraeducators at the top of the pay scale, and included a significant reclassification of clerical staff that offers an additional 5-10% increase for clerical staff in the lowest-paid category.

We met again in mediation yesterday (5/24) with hopes of reaching a settlement. The APEA presented multiple new proposals related to compensation.

We agreed to their request to increase the minimum starting wage for new paraeducators more than our last best offer, and we countered that this increase be made over the first two years of the new contract. Under our counter proposal, the minimum starting wage for paraeducators would increase from $17.13 to $19.63 as of July 1, 2023.

As we said in our last community update, our proposal addresses the concerns expressed by the APEA as well as by many of you. Here is the summary that we shared earlier this month to provide an overview of the key parts of our proposal.

1. Provide a living wage for paraeducators.      

• Our proposal provides a minimum wage for newly hired paraeducators of $19.63, which is higher than the $16.28 living wage for Hampshire county (see “Living Wage Calculator”).
• The APEA had asked for a wage increase of 6% for paraeducators. Our proposal gives all paraeducators an increase of at least 6% this year, through a 3% COLA and seniority increases for all of at least 3%, Most paraeducators will receive a more than 6% increase in the following years of the contract through a 3% COLA and seniority increases of 3% or more each year.
• We also agreed to several other increases requested by the APEA, including additional compensation for paraeducators:
  • with registered behavior technician or safety care certification,
  • with bachelors’ degrees in specific areas, and
  • with 1-to-1 toileting responsibilities.
• Under our proposal, paraeducators in our districts will be paid higher than paraeducators in most surrounding districts. Paraeducators also receive benefits such as pensions, health insurance, 10 paid holidays, and have a contracted work year of 181 6.5-hour days.

1. Provide fair and competitive compensation for teachers.

• In addition to the 9% COLA over the 3 years of the contract, our proposal also includes a salary schedule with annual seniority increases of about 3.5-4.0%.
• Under our proposal, teachers with the most years of experience (more than half of teachers in our districts) will be the highest paid teachers in our region.

Top Step – July 2022 through June 2023

District	BA	M	M+30	PhD
South Hadley	$72,245	$78,423	$84,595	$90,764
Northampton	$75,489	$81,538	$84,054	$93,448
Hadley	$71,276	$77,767	$82,111	$88,081
Belchertown	$74,022	$77,933	$81,061	$84,187
Amherst-Pelham	$76,001	$81,811	$87,624	$93,431

• Our proposed COLA is equivalent to or higher than the COLA agreed to in South Hadley, Northampton, and many other districts across the state, ensuring salaries in our districts remain competitive within the region.

1. Restructure compensation grid for clerical staff.

• We agreed to the APEA request to restructure the framework that defines compensation for clerical staff. Under this framework, clerical staff in the lowest-paid category will get an additional 5-10% increase this year.
• We agreed to the APEA request for an additional stipend for certain clerical staff who have proficiency in a language other than English
• Under our proposal, clerical staff will receive a COLA of 9% over the 3 years of the contract.

1. Why can’t the RSC offer more?

• Funding for schools comes primarily from the municipal property taxes from our towns. We asked for additional funding from each of the four towns of our districts, on multiple occasions, and each town has said ‘no.’
• We have to work with the funding we receive, and by law, we must balance our school budgets, as painful or difficult as that may be. Without a significant source of new funding, budgeted pay increases need to be in line with the annual funding increases we receive from the towns.
• Our school budgets must balance multiple, highly-valued investment areas, such as teacher and staff pay, diverse programs and services to meet student needs and interests, and class sizes. Our proposal maximizes compensation increases while maintaining our budgeted programs and services.

We believe our last best offer, with the additional agreements made this week, provides an excellent compensation package that keeps our employees among the highest paid in the area. We are hopeful that this will bring our protracted negotiations to resolution at our next meeting on June 7.