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The Norwalk Federation of Teachers has drawn a line in the sand. “We are not going to renegotiate our contract,” Bruce Mellion, president of the union, says stridently. [breakhere]
The Norwalk Board of Estimation and Taxation and the City Council have asked the BOE to reduce its spending by $5 million. So far, interim Superintendent Michael Nast thinks he can find $3 million. Leaders throughout Norwalk are expecting all unions, particularly the teachers’ union, to help come up with the other $2 million through concessions, including wage freezes and furlough days. Mayor Richard Moccia and BET Chair Fred Wilms have said repeatedly that the unions throughout Norwalk need to open their contracts to help save the city money. Last week, Board Members Jack Chiaramonte and Erin Halsey publicly rebuked the unions for not considering concessions. Lisa Thomson, Roton PTO president, said the union was being “un-American”.
Mellion views the situation very differently. He says the NFT negotiated a three-year contract as recently as October. “It was the same economic climate as today.” In that contract, a new health plan was adopted which is going to save the district $3.6 million over the next two years. The teachers also received a “tempered” raise of 1.35% for next year. At the time, Mellion recalls that the NFT was praised by the BET for its “neutral, win-win contract.”
In Mellion’s opinion, the BOE should be advocating a “realistic” budget to the BET and not pointing fingers at the unions. “We need to talk about the facts. Somebody should acknowledge what we have done,” says Mellion.
Critics, like BOE Member Halsey, have said that teachers are sheltered from the “real world” of layoffs and wage cuts. In response, Mellion says that teachers “live very much in the real world because of the work they have chosen to dedicate themselves to.” “When the economy is good nobody talks about teachers getting bonuses,” says Mellion.
Mellion also rejects the possibility of increasing class size—a proposal that came up at last week’s BOE meeting which would require opening up the teachers contract. Mellion calls the idea “reprehensible”. “The plans should never have seen the light of day. That boat is not going to leave the harbor,” he says. “We are a district in need of improvement. How can we think of increasing class size?” says Mellion. “We are not going to ride the backs of kids so we can reconcile the budget.”
Mellion has been meeting with Superintendent Nast regularly to go over the budget to look for areas for savings. “I realize it’s a difficult situation,” says Mellion. “But, we are not the city’s bankers.”
