MORRISDALE – The leaders of the West Branch Education Support Professional Association (WBESPA), said Monday that they are going to pursue action through the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board (PLBR) to force a vote on a tentative contract agreement that negotiating teams for both sides reached last winter.
The WBESPA, which represents the district’s support staff workers, filed an unfair labor practice charge against the school board in February after the school board refused to take a vote on the tentative agreement. The Pennsylvania Labor Relation Board ruled that the charge did not violate Act 195, the state’s bargaining law. In response, the WBESPA has filed exceptions to that ruling, asking the PLRB to review the case.
“We are asking the PLRB to take another look at this case. We believe failure to act on a tentative agreement is bad faith bargaining. Until the school board takes a vote, we can not return to negotiations or take other actions to get a new contract. It is unfair of the school board to hold our workers hostage,” said WBESPA President Tim Jones.
The WBESPA and members of the West Branch School Board’s negotiations team began bargaining on a successor contract in January 2008. The WBESPA’s contract expired in July 2008, and as a show of good faith, union workers agreed to continue working under the terms of the expired contract.
At the January 26 school board meeting action on the tentative agreement was deferred; at the February 23 school board meeting a motion was made to accept the tentative agreement, but died for lack of a second.
“This situation is not fair to the workers. No one has had a raise for almost two years, and some have not received a raise since 2006. We are just asking the school board to be respectful to our members. We have bargained in good faith for more than a year. We believe the tentative agreement represents a fair compromise for both sides. All of our members are district residents who pay taxes and vote in our school district,” Jones added.
The WBESPA represents the district’s approximately 50 support staff, including secretaries, classrooms aides, personal care aides, hall monitors, cafeteria workers and maintenance and custodial workers. In 2008, the district’s aides voted to join the WBESPA, which is an affiliate of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the state’s largest union.
