Protest of District’s Contract Offer : Irvine Teachers Vote for One-Day Strike

Irvine teachers have voted to stay home from school on Feb. 5 in an effort to force the district back to the bargaining table to renegotiate their contract.

Irvine Teachers Assn. President Ken Horner said Friday that 76% of the 650 teachers who voted were in favor of the one-day strike to protest the Irvine Unified School District’s offer of a 3% salary raise.

“Our goal is to get the board to come back to the table,” Horner said. “If they don’t, I guess we’ll have to try something a little more drastic.”

He did not specify what actions the union might take if the board wouldn’t return to the bargaining table.

The vote was taken Tuesday and tabulated Wednesday night.

At issue in the seven-month contract dispute are salaries, insurance fees and union fees, Horner said.

In December, when negotiations broke off, the district’s last offer was a 3% cost-of-living increase retroactive to July 1. The current two-year contract runs until June 30, but a clause in it allowed for negotiations over a cost-of-living raise after one year.

The union is asking for a 2% increase retroactive to July 1 and another 2% raise in the spring semester. That would raise the base salary level for the next round of contract negotiations, which are scheduled to start in April.

Budget Cuts Cited “Frankly, I’m surprised,” said Assistant Supt. Ron Upton when he heard of the strike vote. “The money we offered them was to be money coming from next year and cuts from our present budget,” he said. “You can’t give them money you just don’t have.”

Upton said the board has already cut $1.5 million from this year’s budget to pay teachers’ salaries. Those cuts have come from extracurricular activities, sports programs and by deferring maintenance, among other things, he added.

Horner disputed the administration’s claim that the district has no more money. “The money’s there,” he said. “They have to look for it a little harder.”

Pay Above Average The average teacher in the Irvine school system makes $28,200 a year, Upton said, well above the state average.

Although the association announced the strike call this week, letters to board members officially notifying them of the vote will be delivered Tuesday, Horner said.

In addition to its salary demand, the union is seeking assurance from the district that health insurance fees will not be increased by more than 1% for the duration of the contract and is asking that a committee of teachers be established to review management of the insurance program, Horner said.

Union officials also are asking that union membership be made mandatory for all teachers. Only 75% of the 750 teachers in the district belong to the union and pay the $330 annual dues, even though the association bargains on behalf of every teacher, Horner said.

Will Picket at Schools The teachers who approved the walkout are expected to picket in front of their respective schools, he said, adding that he hopes that some of the teachers who voted against the strike will not cross picket lines.

School district board member Mary Ellen Hadley said that all of the district’s 25 schools will remain open and will be staffed with substitute teachers, and that teachers who don’t show up for work that day and don’t call in sick will be docked a day’s pay.

“This is something they have said they might do, so we’re kind of expecting it,” she said. “I suppose they must make their point, but we have a commitment to the children to keep the schools open.”

Hadley said that she doesn’t expect the board to take any disciplinary action against the teachers who do decide to strike, but that policy may change when the board convenes next week.