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| Mr. Freeeze |
I'm certainly not defending the SEA but the idea that there was any great gain from Town employees taking a freeze in the past is a great myth.
Randy Hunt pointed out in the last Long Range Plan (see page 56) that for the period 2004-2008, Town salaries grew at an average of 5.9% annually, while School salaries grew at 5.5%.
Yes there were wage freezes, but those freezes were "made up for" in subsequent years.
Reality is that none of that matters. We can't afford 5.5%, 5.9% or even 2% if that increase exceeeds the growth in our revenue.
The Town employees, and MANY of the School employees have taken freezes to help the situation -- now it's the SEA's turn. If the current SEA leadership disagrees, I would hope that those members who DO agree speak up and get their union to respond to their concerns.
This is not about teachers, it is about economics. Sandwich has some great teachers -- many of who are in the union, some in leadership positions. BUT, the District is going to be forced to eliminate many of their colleagues unless some cost savings (and public support) is generated.
Quickly.
Unfortunately, it's the younger teachers with less seniority and little voice in union activities who are the ones that will usually be eliminated.
This is certainly not a foreign concept to the vast majority of private sector employees in Town who work 50+ hours per week for 50+ weeks of the year. They have seen their own wages frozen (and with no step, lane, longevity, or Overtime increases) and many of their friends and colleagues laid off or put on short work weeks.
4 comments:
I think the point of "taking a zero" and a wage "freeze " are two completely different things. Taking a zero means no base salary increase for the negotiated time. HOWEVER, that employee still earns longevity pay, step raises, educational incentives etc. etc. etc. A wage freeze is NO pay increase anywhere in the contract. I'm glad I could help.
Excellent point. Teachers' payroll numbers are very different because half of the annual increase relates to step & lane or longevity payments --- which would be frozen under a "zero" but not under a "freeze".
Town workers have minimal steps & longevity, and few (if any) lanes -- so this is almost a non-issue there.
The SC needs to specify "zero" ... no increase for nothing.
Been there just can’t be right if Randy Hunt’s budget numbers are valid.
There has to be a significant amount of “other” payments going to town employees (steps, longevity, etc) to add up to an average 5.9% compensation increase.
I don't remember exact percentages -- but I definitely remember the discussion last year -- Randy compared employees from school & town who had been employed through the entire period with no major change in job title to see what overall growth would be -- including COLA, steps, lanes, longevity --- anything that showed up as wages.
Not really surprising since well-publicized "freezes" in Town wages were generally tied to very quiet subsequent increases in wages. The net effect is almost no effect on wages in the long run -- but some really good PR and MORE smoke and mirrors.
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