School board votes to pull out of "coalition collective bargaining"
Although "coalition collective bargaining" has been the standard method of negotiation for New York’s Valley Stream Central High School District, the district’s school board has voted to pull out of such negotiations. Previously the high school and three elementary districts held simultaneous contractual discussions with the Valley Stream Teachers’ Association (VSTA). School Board President Anthony Iadevaio says the board voted to break off from joint negotiations because many of the contract issues were high school-related and could be dealt with more effectively in talks limited to the high school board and the union. After the board’s vote last August, Mr. Iadevaio explained that teacher-student contact time and reconfiguration of the school day were two of the critical issues the board felt it could better negotiate in more focused talks. That vote was unanimously reaffirmed by the board in January. VSTA President Richard Herrmann says the high school district has no right to unilaterally pull out of coalition bargaining. "They would have to put it on the bargaining table, because it’s part of negotiations," he says. He also notes that the teachers’ contract explicitly states that a committee made up of members of all four school districts must meet to discuss matters that are of concern to all of the districts and their staffs. Mr. Herrmann says the district’s actions are a violation of the contract and the Taylor Law, a labor relations statute that covers most workers in New York, including teachers. The union has initiated legal action. In May an arbitrator appointed by the state will consider the matter, which also could be brought before the Public Employment Relations Board. Dominick Yezzo, a Garden City attorney who has handled labor relations cases, said that a decision to withdraw from coalition collective bargaining is not a matter that must be negotiated between a school district and a teachers’ union.
VSTA’s newsletter has characterized the board’s decision as an attempt at union busting. Mr. Iadevaio denies this. "We are not out there to hurt anyone or go union-busting," he says. "We’re looking to best address the concerns of the elementary and the high school people, and we feel this is the best way to do it." Coalition collective bargaining was formalized by a resolution passed in 1965 establishing a Joint Boards Negotiating Committee (JBNC). Under its terms, each of the three elementary districts and the high school district selected members to sit on the committee and jointly negotiate contracts with VSTA, which was formally recognized by the school boards as the sole representative of Valley Stream teachers in 1966. In the November 1988 issue of the New York State School Boards Association Journal, Harris Dinkoff authored an article that asserted that coalition bargaining helps streamline labor negotiations. Mr. Dinkoff, who has served in several capacities in Valley Stream schools, including chief negotiator for the JBNC, said employee dissatisfaction with different provisions in the four districts’ salary schedules increased the need for cooperation among the boards to develop a single set of salary guidelines. Mr. Herrmann agrees that the uniformity of salaries and benefits for teachers helps maintain stability in the districts and keep them from competing for faculty. "And why would you want to waste time with four separate negotiations when you can have one?" he says.
Long Island Herald Online
By Mike Schnitzel
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