Willow Run teachers face imposed contract
East Lansing, Mich., Aug. 29, 2007 - Last night, Willow Run teachers had a new contract imposed on them by the Willow Run school board. The two sides have been bargaining since Aug. 2005.
“We are frustrated that the school board’s bargaining proposals have literally remained unchanged since negotiations began two years ago,” said Debbie Swanson, a Willow Run Education Association (WREA) bargaining team member. The school board is not bargaining in good faith.
Swanson explained that the board’s team has repeatedly proposed pay freezes with no step increases and a new health insurance plan that requires teachers to pay a $2,500 up-front, out-of-pocket deductible cost.
According to Suzanne Clark, the Michigan Education Association (MEA) representative and chief negotiator, the teachers have offered significant pay and insurance concessions in view of the district’s financial problems.
Clark said, “In July of this year, the WREA offered to save the district $500,000 by proposing an interim agreement that would forego wage scale step increases and an immediate change to a much cheaper health insurance plan.”
The school board rejected the offer.
Clark went on to say that the WREA offered a three-year wage freeze, an insurance plan that would save the district $400,000 annually, and a teacher-paid contribution to their insurance in a last-ditch effort to settle the contract before school started.
The board’s negotiating team countered with the same offer they had on the table in 2006.
“It’s amazing,” said Clark. “Even the school board’s attorney said that he had never seen a union propose three consecutive years of pay freezes in his 34 years of negotiations.”
School begins Sept. 4 for the 2,500 students in Willow Run.
The 160 teachers are members of the MEA.