The head of the teachers' union in the Penn Hills School District says the school board's failure this week to dismiss the lawyer hired to negotiate a new contract does not bode well.
"As far as we're concerned, there have been no negotiations," said Ryan Osorio, president of the Penn Hills Education Association, which represents 428 teachers. The union's four-year contract is set to expire Aug. 31. Classes are scheduled to resume Sept. 3.
"When they hired Mr. (Bruce) Campbell, it was clear to us that they (the district) were interested in aggressive negotiations," Osorio said. "So we developed a proposal that we felt was just as aggressive, with the understanding that we would meet somewhere in the middle. But that hasn't happened."
Rather than using district Solicitor Craig Alexander to negotiate a new labor agreement with teachers, the board last spring hired attorney Campbell, regarded as an expert in labor negotiations.
On Monday, the school board rejected a measure to remove Campbell as the district's chief negotiator.
Voting to remove Campbell were Erin Vecchio, Robert Hudak and Margie Krogh. Voting to retain him were board President Joseph Bailey and members John Zacchia, Carolyn Faggioli, Donald Kuhn, Catherine Mowry and Barry Patterson.
Campbell said when negotiating public sector contracts "it is very common for unions to play 'get the negotiator.' "
He said any offers or strategies presented during bargaining sessions with the union are dictated by the school board.
In June, several board members revealed that the district's initial offer to teachers was a one-year contract that calls for a pay freeze and an increase in health care contributions to 10 percent from the 1.2 percent teachers now pay.
The union sought a five-year deal with 6 percent raises each year. At the time, no counter offer was made regarding contributions to health care.
The average public employee in the state pays 8.3 percent toward health care, according to an annual survey by Cowden Associates Inc., a Downtown employee benefits consulting firm. Pennsylvanians working in the private sector contribute an average of 23.9 percent toward health care.
Osorio has said the district's teachers are simply seeking raises that will put their salaries within the average for Allegheny County. Prior to the current contract, Penn Hills teachers were among the lowest paid in the county, he said.
Campbell and Osorio declined to discuss details of the contract.
Board member Erin Vecchio, who opposed hiring Campbell, said the money the district has paid him "has been a waste."
"We've shelled out $75,000 -- and as far as I can see -- we're no closer to a contract than we were at the beginning," she said. "If we're asking teachers to take a pay freeze because we don't have the money for raises, then we don't need to be spending all this money for an outside lawyer to tell them that."
Patterson, who serves on the board's negotiating committee with Bailey and Zacchia, praised Campbell's work during Monday's school board meeting, saying "it would be a disaster" to replace him at this time.
Patterson declined to elaborate on his position following the meeting citing a written agreement not to discuss the negotiations.
