ORANGE : School Workers Agree to Contract

After working six months without a contract, the 1,100 classified workers in the Orange Unified School District have come to a tentative agreement with the district.

In a vote of 284 to 51, the Orange chapter of the California School Employees Assn. agreed last week to accept the recommendations of a three-member fact-finding committee that met Nov. 30 to review the situation.

In exchange for its members taking a 2.59% pay cut, the union--which represents the district’s maintenance and clerical employees--will gain back all but eight of the more than 60 positions that the school board had voted to do away with in August and November, said Jack Elsner, human resources director for the district.

Among those who will be back in school when classes resume after the winter holidays will be the elementary school’s 26 library media assistants, whose classified positions had been eliminated despite parent protests.

Final approval of the agreement is expected Wednesday during the Board of Education meeting, Elsner said.

As a result of the salary reductions, the financially pressed district will save about $1.1 million over the remainder of fiscal year 1992-1993, officials said.

The new contract will expire in September, 1994. But as part of the agreement, the district has reserved the right to reopen salary negotiations if financial conditions worsen over the coming year.