June 18, 2004

Alameda Unified School District

Board of Education to Vote on 3-Year Contract with Teachers’ Union

The Alameda Unified School District announced today that its negotiators have reached a tentative agreement with the teachers’ union, the Alameda Education Association, for a new collective bargaining agreement through June 30, 2006. Union membership ratified the tentative agreement in a vote tallied on Thursday, June 18. The Board of Education is expected to consider and take action on the agreement at its next Board meeting on Wednesday, June 23, at 6:30 p.m. at Edison Elementary School, 2700 Buena Vista Avenue.

District negotiators reported that the agreement was based on new funding levels proposed in Governor Schwarzenegger’s revised budget. If the legislature fails to adopt the funding levels proposed by the Governor, either the District or the union can request that the parties return to the negotiating table.

The tentative agreement covers a broad range of workplace issues and provides significant financial and other improvements to working conditions for the District’s teachers. These changes include:

• The parties agreed to a new three-year labor agreement that will reduce or eliminate the need to negotiate matters during the term of the agreement. In addition, the union agreed not to engage in an unlawful strike or other form of work stoppage during the three years the contract is in effect. Both sides agreed to tackle the impact of escalating medical insurance premiums by significantly increasing the District’s contribution to premiums for employees with dependents. In addition, the District will continue to cover most if not all of the insurance premiums for employees who do not have dependent coverage.
• The parties agreed to increase total compensation for teachers in 2005-06 based on a formula that is designed to allocate the same share of unrestricted and special education funding that they currently receive.
• The District agreed to provide teachers with a retirement incentive at the end of the current year, 2003-04. Any savings from the retirement incentive package will be channeled back to the remaining teachers.
• The District agreed to let teachers use their sick leave to attend to family illnesses covered by federal and state law, and to use up to 10 days of their sick leave to attend to other family illnesses.
• The parties agreed to wide-ranging changes to the collection of rules that govern the teachers’ workday to allow teachers added flexibility in their planning and preparation for teaching and to give them more input into the structure of those activities.

Alameda Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Alan Nishino, commented, “We are hopeful that the Legislature will accept the decisions about public school revenues reflected in the Governor’s proposed budget, and that the budget will be adopted on time, so that we can turn our attention to providing the best education possible to the children of Alameda.”

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Last modified: June 17, 2004

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