FULLERTON : Mediator to Be Used in Contract Impasse

A mediator will attempt to resolve an impasse in the contract talks between the Fullerton Joint Union High School District and its teachers’ union.

Some progress in reaching agreement on a new contract has been reported, but the two sides have yet to resolve key differences over salaries, wages and benefits. Teachers have been working without a contract since a three-year pact expired in September.

A mediator from the state Public Employee Relations Board will meet with both sides on Wednesday.

“There’s been some agreement, but compensation is the tough one,” said Ben Rogers, president of the 554-member Fullerton Secondary Teachers Organization and an instructor at Troy High School. “I’m looking for the mediator to give sort of a reality check.”

The union is proposing increasing the teachers’ overall compensation package by slightly more than 9%, while the district is offering slightly more than 5%, Rogers said. When talks began last October, the union proposed a 10.1% increase and the district offered 4.1%.

Major points that have to be resolved include a raise in stipends for after-school work, such as coaching athletic teams and advising student clubs, and increases in hourly wages for adult- and continuing-education instructors, Rogers said.

He added that the two sides have settled “housekeeping matters,” such as limits on class sizes and mentor-teacher stipends.

District officials have said that they are limited this year because of cuts in state funding and the recession. They have also said that there are lingering doubts about how much funding they will get from the 1992-93 state budget. State lawmakers have said that the governor’s proposed budget is expected to change substantially when it is debated in the Legislature.

Still, the union says that the district already is in good financial shape.

“We feel that they have plenty of contingency funding and the unrestricted ending balance is more than adequate,” Rogers said.

A group of teachers plans to make a presentation to the school board at the meeting tonight, he said.

“I’m going to encourage the district to loosen its parameters a bit,” he said. “We’re not going to picket or anything, but there will be some teachers there.”