EP Teachers Strike Moves Into Second Week

The Evergreen Park teachers union and Dist. 124 school board met on Sunday but were unable to settle on a new contract that would get students back in school on Tuesday, sending the teachers strike into a second week.

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After a marathon negotiation session that broke up early Saturday morning, the Evergreen Park Federation of Teachers' bargaining team presented a counter offer to school board members.

Illinois Federation of Teachers field director Deneen Pajeau said the union team arrived at Central Junior High School on Sunday morning fully expecting a proposal from the school board.

“[The school board was] supposed to come back today with a counteroffer or accepting our proposal,” Pajeau said. “We waited for 120 minutes. They’re playing the negotiations game.”

Both the D124 school board and teachers union had expressed hopes that they could settle on a contract and get students back in school on Tuesday, after the Columbus Day holiday.

Asked if the union and board were any closer, Pajeau said both parties—which are no longer meeting in the same room--are now presenting proposal packages.

“If you’re to look at items individually were closer or exactly the same on some,” Pajeau said, “but [the contract] would have to be considered in its entirety.”

The union team also looked at the first two years of the board’s proposed health savings account on Friday night. Pajaeu said the both sides were off on a 6-month differential of when increases to employees’ contributions to the health benefits would begin.

“And kids are staying out of school for this,” Pajeau said. “We offered to do a two-year contact.”

Retirement issues and the school board’s stance on not paying teachers and paraprofessionals to make up strike days are also standing in the way of resolution.

“What they’re saying is ‘we don’t want students to receive the education they deserve by having teachers in the classroom with them if there any days that they try to make up,'” Pajeau said.

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The union has proposed a “soft freeze” in the third year of the contract, including a 1-percent stipend that is not on the teachers’ salary schedule, along with the union’s proposed step-salary increase not to exceed 3 percent.

Pajeau said the salary increases the union has offered, are potentially less than what the board has on the table.

"If starting teacher’s salary is $37,000, we’re not adding to that over three years," she added.

The D124 school board wants to base teachers’ salary increases the last two years of the contract on the Consumer Price Index.

On Sunday, the school board presented a 4-year bundled counterproposal including salary, health insurance and retirement, which increased the board’s salary and retirement offers.

The teachers union responded with a 3-year counteroffer that increased the district’s contributions to union employees’ health insurance by $31,846.

In a statement on the Dist. 124's website, the school board said it viewed the union’s offer as “regressive” because “it showed no movement in response to the board’s increased offer on salary.”

On Sunday night, the union accused the D124 school board of only posting part of the union's counterproposal that did not show the concessions the union has made to the board since the strike began.

Patch has included a pdf of the EPFT's latest counter-offer from Oct. 7

Both teams are due to sit down again at 3:30 p.m. Monday.

The Evergreen Park Federation of Teachers has also organized a community forum for parents and residents at the 9701 S. Kedzie Ave., for 6 p.m. Monday.

Pajeau said the union was merely responding to a group of 100 parents that met with the district superintendent last Wednesday. D124 school board members have been invited, but it’s unclear if any will attend.

As for the ongoing strike with elementary school students joining teachers on the picket line along 95th Street, the pressure is starting to take a toll on union members.

"At this point I don’t know how teachers are going to afford it,” Pajeau said.

Read Patch's ongoing strike coverage:

• No Deal Reached During Sunday Bargaining Session

• No Deal After Marathon Session to End EP Teachers Strike
• EP Teachers Union Organizes Community Forum - UPDATE
• National Union President Walks D124 Picket Line Before Another Round of Talks
• What To Do With Your Kids During the Evergreen Park Teachers Strike
• EP Students Join Teachers on Picket Line
  
• D124 Plays Hardball With EP Teachers Union
  
• Strike On: EP Teachers Walk Picket Line
• Last Chance for EP Teachers and D124 to Avoid Strike
• Scenes of a Protest: EP Teachers Stage Noisy Rally on 95th Street
• Threat of EP Teachers Strike Looms
• EP Teachers Set Oct. 2 Strike Date
• No Agreement In D124 Contract Talks