FULLERTON : District-Union Talks Could Drag Into ’92

Negotiations between the Fullerton Joint Union High School District and the teacher’s union could extend into 1992 because of the uncertainty of the state economy, representatives of both sides said last week.

The 554-member Fullerton Secondary Teachers Organization and the district resolved a few of their issues at a bargaining session on Wednesday. But, as yet, little progress has been made in resolving the gap between the union’s proposal to increase teachers’ overall compensation package by 10.1% and the district’s offer of 4.1%.

Teachers have been working without a contract since a three-year agreement expired in September.

“There really was no movement at all,” said Ben Rogers, the president of the teachers’ union and an instructor at Troy High School.

The teachers’ union proposal includes 6% for salary increases. In addition, the union is seeking increases in hourly work wages, stipend pay and health benefits.

“We think there are adequate funds to support our proposal,” Rogers said. “We think they can afford that.”

But Glenda Watson, district administrator for personnel, said that the district does not yet have a clear picture of what the 1992-93 state budget will mean for the district. In January, Gov. Pete Wilson is expected to unveil a spending plan.

“When they realize the problems we have in the state, more and more it looks pretty grim,” Watson said. “It’s a pretty dire year we are in.”

The district’s compensation package includes a 1.54% increase in health and welfare benefits and 1.58% hike in “step and column” advances, the cost of paying employees as they gain in seniority.

District officials and the union also are expected to discuss the formation of a new trust fund to pay for medical benefits. The fund, which would include other districts in North County, would help the school employees and administrators limit skyrocketing costs in health-care premiums.

Those negotiations could take just as long because the district and the union will also have to work on the plan with other, neighboring districts to form the trust fund.

Meanwhile, Rogers said the union has been studying proposals to form a political-action committee in time for the November, 1992, school board elections.

“We’re putting together a war chest, and we’re seriously going to try to affect the outcome of that election,” he said.