Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
The Pennsbury School Board voted 6-2 to approve a new contract between the district and Pennsbury Educational Support Professionals Association (PESPA) at Thursday night’s meeting.
The new labor agreement has been in the works for a while and was approved by the PESPA in mid-August.
Advertisements
The agreement covers six years and and begins retroactively in July 2011 and continuing to June 30, 2017.
District officials said the contract will save the school system at least $9 million over the life of the contract, which covers about 650 staff members. Membership of the PESPA covers everything from secretaries and paraprofessionals to bus drivers and custodians.
Under the new deal, PESPA members who have dependents on their health insurance will lose that insurance. The cheaper coverage means only the district employee will have insurance.
Advertisements
Board member Dr. Stephan Kosmorsky, who was one of two board members to vote against the contract, raised concerns about the new insurance that would drop dependents. He said the PESPA contract should be renegotiated until they have insurance that covers dependents.
Simon Campbell, a board member, said he could not vote for the contract because it would force 49 district employees who do not want to be PESPA union members to have to pay regular union dues. While that is legal in Pennsylvania, Campbell said he was against it.
Advertisements
Board members John Palmer, Jacqueline Redner, Chris Cridge, Howard Goldberg, Kathleen Zawacki and Vice President Gary Sanderson voted to approve the deal. Sanderson lead the meeting, as President Allan Weisel was absent.
“If I were to vote against this, I’d be voting to outsource,” Goldberg said during the meeting.
Over the course of negotiations, PESPA have worried that the district was looking to outsource their jobs to save money. District Solicitor Jeffery Sultanik confirmed in a statement that Pennsbury looked at outsource, but the agreement with the union offers PESPA members “both job security and annual pay increases.”
Advertisements
Many board members thanked the PESPA for their willingness to work together with the district on the new contract.
