. . . Or is it now officially a “false start”?
The ESP Negotiation Team met with the SC today to resume negotiations for a successor agreement to our contract which expired on June 30, 2020. The good news is that we had nine Educational Support Professionals who participated as observers to hear first-hand what the SC had to offer. Thank you to those members for attending as I am sure that it helped to understand exactly what the School Committee’s priorities are and how they feel about the work that we do.
Our next session is on March 23rd. Please let me know by March 19th if you’d like to join us as well – we’d love to have EVERY ESP in attendance!
Now for the bad news. First, the Bargaining Team did not receive the SC counter proposal 24 hours in advance as promised but instead just barely an hour before we were set to bargain. Second, the proposal was extremely disappointing as there was no movement on the SC’s proposed wage increase of 1.75%, 2% and 1.5% each year, no counter to our proposed market correction of $4000 for all ESPs, and no counter to our proposed differentials for tech/library ESPS and ESPS with a teaching license (the SC is holding firm at just 50 cents more per hour).
In summary, the SC’s newest proposal was virtually the same disappointing and inadequate offer as two weeks ago, but with slightly more detail.
Through their representative, the School Committee simply stated that they “don’t agree with [our] definition of a living wage” and they “don’t agree that there’s a need for a market correction” in ESP pay. Based on the proposal they put on the table this afternoon they clearly don’t believe the work we do right now is worth what we believe we deserve either.
Needless to say, your ESP Negotiation Team members let the SC know how extremely disappointed, frustrated, and disrespected their proposal left them.
To achieve our goals, we must take collective action.
We need EVERY ESP involved in the conversation to discuss the latest offer and what steps we must take to ensure that every ESP earns a living wage!
Join us for an ALL-ESP Membership Meeting on Monday, March 1st at 7pm.
It is imperative that ALL ESPs attend this meeting and play an active role in the awareness, advocacy, and action that is necessary to settle our contract. Together we are a strong and impactful force that can initiate the change that is needed! Save the date, and we’ll send a link to join the meeting Monday afternoon.
I look forward to seeing ALL ESPS Monday evening.
In Solidarity,
Maureen Zuber
ESP Bargaining Chair