B-REA: Health Care Contributions Cover Raises

As between the board of education and the drag on, the three biggest sticking points remain the same—health benefits, time and money.

Steve Beatty, president of the B-REA and social studies teacher at , said that one tends to lead into the other. At the outset, he said, the union has been willing to change to the state health benefits plan for more than a year.

"It was as long as the concession was part of the total package in the settlement, worth almost $1 million in the district for the year," he said. "The board of education asked us to give it away in December so they could start saving the $80,000 per month and then negotiate the time and money issue separately."

"Now they are trying to impose the change and keep the money," he added.

As for the issue of time in the high school, the board of education has said in past statements that the teachers in Bridgewater work less periods—with a total of five—than many of the other districts in the county.

At the end of February, Beatty said, the union agreed in principle to add 40 minutes of instruction to the day, a tutorial period, as was requested.

"But again, this hinged on it being part of a total package settlement," he said. "The BOE was unwilling to provide a suitable and fair package."

The biggest sticking point, Beatty said, has been money at this point.

The board of education's final offer, Beatty said, was 1.5 percent cash in year one, with a 2 percent increase in years two and three.

"They said this was an offer of 5.5 percent," he said. "This is misleading at best, and a lie at worst."

Instead, Beatty said, the 1.5 percent is a one-time cash payment on each person's salary, so that if a person makes $60,000, he gets a check for $900, minus taxes, while staying frozen on the salary guide.

"The 2 percent increases are well below our increment costs, meaning the new guide would have greatly devalued steps, and the top step would likely get little to nothing," he said. "In fact, this is a three-year offer worth 4 percent."

Beatty said the union has offered a 2.85 percent raise for each of the years, which is the starting bid to negotiate.

"It is made to sound unreasonable at a total of 8.55 percent," he said. "However, to reiterate, a 1 percent raise will cost the board around $500,000, and therefore the 2.85 percent would cost roughly $1.425 million."

The savings from the health concession, Beatty said, takes care of about $1 million, and the health care contributions for teachers this year totalled about $1.4 million.

"Do the math," he said. "The 2.85 percent is easily covered by our money."

"That's not even counting the millions they have in found money from state aid and breakage," he added.

And each year, Beatty said, the dollar amounts for health care contributions will rise.

"They can pay the 2.85 percent and still make a big profit from us," he said. "And even with a raise moving people up on the guide, most salaries will be going backwards for years because of the increasing health care contributions."