Administrators, Teachers Reach Tentative Pact

The most bitter labor dispute in the history of the ABC Unified School District has apparently ended with a tentative settlement providing teachers with a compromise salary increase and no changes in health benefits.

Union membership must still approve the plan, which would settle a dispute that has lasted more than a year. The agreement would give teachers a 2.5% bonus for the 1990-91 school year. For this year, teachers would see their salaries rise 2.1%.

To reach the agreement, the union lowered its salary request and the district dropped its demand that the raise be contingent on increased state revenue.

The proposed contract was hammered out by late Tuesday afternoon and announced at an evening school board meeting.

Both sides must return to the bargaining table as soon as January to negotiate a contract for next year, school board President Dixie Primosch said.

The disagreement became a backdrop for a recent special election to fill a vacant board seat. The contest pitted David Montgomery, supported by the teachers union, against Charlie Chung, who was endorsed by a majority of the school board. A third candidate, Brent Maddox, also sided with teachers.

Montgomery defeated Chung in a close contest. Many parents and students expressed support for the teachers. Some parents said teachers allowed the dispute to distract from learning in the classroom.

Joan Elliot, co-president of the ABC Federation of Teachers, said she was pleased with the settlement, but she maintained that the district exaggerated its financial plight.

“We have agreed to disagree on that point, and in the fullness of time, one of us will be proved right,” Elliot said. “In the interests of getting a settlement, both of us have compromised.”

Wildcat sickouts and rowdy protests by teachers at board meetings marked the bitter dispute.

Union leadership said the district’s budget reserve for this year was about three times the legal requirement. They also chastised the school board and Supt. Larry Lucas for deteriorating relations between management and employees.

At Tuesday’s board meeting, the district bolstered its position that harder financial times loom. A panel of outside analysts, invited by the district, said that ABC Unified has underestimated future financial problems. Two weeks ago, district officials predicted a $4.2-million deficit in the 1993-94 school year, unless major program or staff cuts are made.