There was a meeting today between AASD and the Appleton Education Association. This 5 minute meeting was a legally required step to open wage negotiations.
Prior to this meeting, some parents were concerned that its purpose was for the teachers union to in some way influence or stop the district’s plans to provide hybrid instruction starting January 19.
Per Julie King, in this meeting, “state law specifically precludes municipal employers from collectively bargaining with the respect to any factor or condition of employment except wages.” So, it sounds like the union collectively bargaining regarding working conditions, even during a pandemic, would be illegal.
Julie King did also state that “it is the intention of the administration to recommend to the Board of Education that all members in good standing will advance a level on the compensation framework, effective the start of the 2021 contract year.” So, off the bat, even before negotiations have commenced, the administration wants to give raises to everyone.
I have included a transcript of the meeting, and you can view it in it’s entirety at this link here: https://youtu.be/PX2uqV7axU4
Transcript of “Exchange of Initial Proposals” between AASD and Appleton Education Association
Chris Heller: Hello, my name is Chris Heller I’m the president of the Appleton Education Association and a highschool math teacher at Appleton West High School.
Julie King: Mr. Krejcie, I believe you’re on mute.
Ed Krejcie: I’m Ed Krejcie, Vice President of Appleton Education Association and art teacher at Madison Middle School
Julie: Thank you. Mr. Hartjes?
Greg Hartjes: And I’m Greg Hartjes, Chief Financial Officer for the Appleton Area School District.
Julie: All right, thank you. We are gonna go ahead and get started. I’ll start with just a brief introduction before the exchange of proposals. So as state law requires, that municipal employers such as the Appleton Area School District through its officers and agents and any certified representatives of the employees such as the Appleton Education Association collectively bargain base wage. That being said, state law specifically precludes municipal employers from collectively bargaining with the respect to any factor or condition of employment except wages, which also includes the total base wage. State law further requires that parties commence collective bargaining by exchanging initial proposals in an open session. The officers and agents negotiating on behalf of the district constitute a governmental body for the purposes of Wisconsin’s open meetings law. At this time I’ll turn it over to Mr. Heller to begin with the initial proposal from AEA.
Chris: Thank you, Julie, and thank you for organizing and arranging this meeting to discuss base wage. The Appleton Education Association recognizes that a great deal of time, research, and consideration went into the implementation of our current compensation framework to make it sustainable over time. It is our hope that the Appleton Area School District will continue to reward quality, hard-working, loyal employees by moving them through the compensation framework. The AEA would also like to discuss an increase to the base wage in the compensation framework to keep the wages of Appleton Area School District employees competitive with our neighboring districts. The Appleton Education Association appreciates the district’s efforts to keep our association informed regarding the state and district budget, including the transparency of insurance costs and savings. We are willing to offer additional dialogue pertaining to informing and distributing the negotiated settlement. We value our pro-active Board of Education and our outstanding working relationship with district administration. We look forward to discussing–uh, to the discussion of employee compensation. Thank you.
Julie: Thank you, Mr. Heller. The Appleton Area School District department of Human Resources welcomes an opportunity to week with you representatives of the Appleton Education Association to discuss the viability of negotiating a base wage increase for your members. Both district administration and the Board of Education value the long-standing positive working relationship with the AEA. It is the hope of the district to negotiate an amicable base wage increase within the parameters of the consumer price index (CPI) as required by state law. The district’s focus of total compensation increase will include the implementation of the educator’s compensation framework. In addition, the district had committed to sharing savings gained by employees who elected the less expensive primary focused health insurance plan in lieu of the more expensive broad network plan. The development of the educator’s compensation framework has been a collective effort over a timeframe of multiple years involving staff, administration, Board input and is now in the fifth year of implementation. To honor staff, experience, value, the professional work, and professional development completed last year and recognize satisfactory performance, it is the intention of the administration to recommend to the Board of Education that all members in good standing will advance a level on the compensation framework, effective the start of the 2021 contract year. It should also be understood that consideration of movement on the framework is considered annually by the Board of Education and is independent–and is dependent on available financial resources and other budgetary concerns. At this time this concludes the initial exchange of proposals. Moving forward, parties will engage in collective bargaining of the base wage. At the conclusion of those negotiations, a recommendation will be presented to the Board of Education for approval. Thank you for attending today’s meeting.
Chris: Thank you.
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