Negotiations begin on contract for 2016-17
By Christopher Bennett
Correspondent
The Burlington Area School District and Burlington Education Association met Monday evening and started the process to agree on a new contract for bargained district personnel.
The BEA is the union that represents those who opt to be members. Union membership is no longer mandatory for many educators in Wisconsin with the passing of Act 10 by the state legislature.
The district’s Personnel Committee and representatives of the union met Monday at BASD offices, 100 North Kane Street in Burlington.
The two bodies exchanged proposals and adjourned from open session into closed session for the purposes of negotiating. Such action is allowed per Wisconsin Statutes.
Any agreement will be in effect retroactive to July 1 of this year, and will continue through June 30, 2017.
The union’s proposal requests a .12 percent increase in pay as of July 1 of this year.
The union also requests that base wages be defined as the actual amount paid to each bargaining unit member’s salary for the 2015-16 school year.
The union requested discussion on the issue of a supplemental pay increase of 1.88 percent. When combined with the requested base wage increase of .12 percent members will potentially realize a 2 percent increase in their individual contracted salary.
The supplemental pay will be part of the teacher’s individual salary, and would help offset increased insurance costs in the 2016-17 contract year.
The district offered a .12 percent increase in base wages.
The 2015-16 contract between BASD and BEA went into affect Oct. 12 of last year and covered the 2015-16 school year. The contract granted a 1.62 percent increase in base salary, which equaled the specified state cost of living increase. The contract process for the 2015-16 school year also started in the summer, and concluded in early October.
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