ORANGE : School District OKs Employees’ Contract

The Orange Unified School District has approved a two-year contract with its classified employees and reached a tentative agreement with the teachers union, ending a lengthy period of labor unrest.

Contracts with both unions include a 3% salary increase for the 1990-91 school year, retroactive to July 1, 1990, and cost of living increases for 1991-92. An additional 1.76% increase will be applied in the first year if state funds are released.

Members of the Classified Employees Union Local 67, who held a one-day sickout during troubled negotiations last year, ratified their contract by a vote of 139 to 8, union representative Becky Mayers announced at last week’s school board meeting.

The 1,391-member union also signed a one-year extension of their current three-year contract.

The teachers union, which held a seven-day walkout during 1988 negotiations, is expected to ratify its contract within a week.

This year, union representatives faced a new superintendent, Norman Guith, in talks about their retiree health package, a plan that independent studies have shown could bankrupt the district.

Current employees are eligible for a plan that pays nearly all medical costs for retired employees and their dependents for life.

The unions have agreed to contract provisions aimed at containing costs near current levels. Classified workers will pay higher prescription costs and deductibles, and the union accepted a new health plan for new employees that would provide a supplement to Medicare when they retire.

The teachers have tentatively agreed to join health maintenance organizations and to change eligibility for the retirement plan from 10 to 15 years of service.