Early in June, the Raymond support staff signed their first contract with the town of Raymond.
After almost two years of negotiations, the Raymond Support Staff Association, a union consisting of hourly employees including ed techs, secretaries, custodians, bus drivers, and cafeteria workers, finally reached an agreement on a three-year contract, retroactive to July, 2004.
The terms of the Raymond support staff’s new contract include wage increases of three percent the first year and four percent for each of the next two years. The contract also gives an extra holiday to full-year employees, defines working conditions, provides a grievance process, ensures seniority in the case of layoffs, and offers a sick leave “bank” that acts as a self-insured short-term disability plan into which each employee donates one sick day.
Negotiations began in 2003, shortly after the formation of the support staff union. Both sides have met 15 times to hammer out contract details during bargaining sessions between September, 2003 and July, 2004.
The union, which represents about 30 Raymond members, began mediation last September and filed for fact-finding on January 21 after failing to negotiate a compromise with the Raymond School Board.
“Fact-finding was scheduled for June 6 but we settled the week before,” said Becky Fernald, UniServ director on the staff of the Maine Education Association. “It was a long haul and in the end both sides feel like it was a good agreement. Now each side just wants to be working with the other side and not against them.”
The intent of a fact-finding process was to try to work out a compromise using a three-member panel consisting of a union representative, a district representative, and a neutral mediator. If fact-finding is unsuccessful, the next step is arbitration but, in most cases, the parties involved are able to reach an agreement without having to go that route, Fernald says.
“Most of us feel it was a good first contract,” said Kathy Woodbrey, a secretary at Jordan Small Middle School. “We wanted to at least maintain the current level of insurance and we were able to do that.”
“It is a good, fair contract,” said Raymond School Board Member Lisa Friedlander, “and I think it reflects good work on both sides. It was a long time in coming.”
Sandra Caldwell, Raymond’s superintendent of schools, and Roger Kelley, chief negotiator for the district, did not return phone calls seeking comment.
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