NEWPORT BEACH : School Workers Reach Agreement

After more than five months of negotiations, the Newport Mesa Unified School District has reached a tentative contract agreement with the district’s classified employees.

The package, which follows 14 sessions between district negotiators and employee representatives, includes a 5.27% salary increase for the 1990-91 school year retroactive to July 1. The raise will bring up the average daily salary of the district non-certificated employees from $92 to about $97, excluding benefits, said Carol Stocker, the district’s chief negotiator.

The compensation package also includes a decrease in the amount of time needed to earn vacation compensation and an agreement that the district will pick up the increased costs of health care benefits. The total package will cost the district about 8.06% more than last year, Stocker said.

The district has nearly 800 classified employees in full- and part-time positions, including non-executive administrative staff, maintenance and custodial workers, food service employees and bus drivers. Although less than a hundred are union members, the California School Employees Assn. represents the entire group during contract talks, Stocker said.

Michael Parks, a union field representative, said his group was satisfied with the outcome of the talks.

“There are a lot of things that we were trying to achieve this year, and there were a lot of things that we weren’t able to achieve,” Parks said. “We did reach an agreement, and that’s what negotiations are all about.”

Parks added that he hopes the contract talks this year will set the stage for briefer negotiations next year and that a 1991-92 package can be presented to union members before the end of the current school year.

The classified employees will vote on the contract agreement Nov. 7. If it is approved, the package will go before the school board at its Nov. 13 meeting.