Teachers in Glendale Postpone Vote on Contract

Glendale teachers have postponed a vote on a proposed contract because of dissatisfaction and confusion over the terms of the package, which calls for a 22.7% pay raise over three years.

The delay in voting, which was to have been completed Thursday, angered some teachers who said they are anxious to reach a settlement. Others said more time is needed to study the conditions of the contract, the first proposed for a three-year term.

New dates for voting are scheduled to be set at a teachers union meeting May 23 at 3:30 p.m. at R. D. White Elementary School, 744 E. Doran St., Glendale.

Talks between the teachers union and district officials have dragged on since December, 1988, and teachers have worked without a contract since June.

The union in March declared an impasse in negotiations but agreed to put the district’s proposal to a vote of its members. The union has taken no official stand on the contract, said Mark Desetti, president of the Glendale Teachers Assn.

Fact-Finding Procedure

If teachers reject the proposal, negotiations will begin a fact-finding procedure that could take six to eight weeks, said Charles Duncan, district director of personnel and employee relations.

Duncan said that if a contract is not ratified by teachers and the school board by June 30, teachers will lose an 8% salary increase offered for the current year.

Kindergarten teacher Nancy Buchner said teachers at her school, Mark Keppel Elementary School, are angered that a vote was postponed. “I think the contract is fine,” she said. “I’m ready to vote. Let’s get on with it.”

Maria Leinenweber, the union’s teacher representative at Crescenta Valley High School, said faculty members there “are beginning to have second thoughts about the contract.” She said some are concerned about a proposed restructuring of the salary schedule that will give the highest raises to teachers who have earned a master’s degree and have served the longest with the district.

District officials said union negotiators sought the salary restructuring, rather than across-the-board raises.