ORANGE : District Opens Talks on Non-Teaching Staff

Barely a month after settling a contract dispute with teachers, Orange Unified School District officials have begun negotiating with union representatives for non-teaching staff.

The school board late Thursday approved a district contract proposal for the staff members, called classified workers. The draft calls for no salary increases and “reserves the right to propose reductions in salary and health and welfare contributions.”

Barbara Noble, president of Chapter 67 of the California School Employees Assn., which represents the classified workers, urged board members at Thursday’s meeting to work out an equitable agreement.

“We have worked under every possible and impossible condition,” Noble said.

Officials of the association, who led an unsuccessful 10-day strike against the district last year, said Friday that they have made a counterproposal but would not release the terms.

“We have made some progress,” association field representative William A. Lokay said of the talks. He and district officials will continue negotiations Monday morning, he said.

The current contract for the district’s 1,189 classified workers expires Sept. 30. Their last raise--of 1.5%-- was in 1991. They took a salary cut of 2.59% in the 1992-93 school year, Lokay said.