CAT Tracks for July 27, 2002 TENTATIVE AGREEMENT

The two teams met Friday from 10:00 a.m. until 8:30 p.m. The day began on a testy note...kind of a carry over from the rhetoric that dominated the Board of Education's press release to The Cairo Citizen last week. In fact, within the first hour, the meeting almost ended when the Board team dropped the fourth year from their proposal and expected us to settle for what was offered last May 23rd.

After a caucus, we told the Board team that we had to have "something" to take back to the membership..."something" to show for losing 17 days of pay. A "supposal" was made and a dialogue began...a dialogue that produced a tentative agreement.

What follows are the terms of that agreement. Since you did not participate in the process, the terms may not be clear...you likely will have questions. The logistics of summer make calling and conducting a ratification meeting difficult. Therefore, the plan is to hold a membership meeting on the first day of school...August 15th. Following a question-and-answer session, a ratification vote will be conducted. Incidentally, a salary schedule has not been developed as yet. When it is...it will include the 4.25% from last year, plus a step, plus another 2%. There would NOT be lump-sum retroactive pay...the additional salary would be distributed in your regular 24 paychecks.

Not to be forgotten...we did tentatively agree to new language and changes to old language during the course of last year. (You will find a link to those TA's at the bottom of this page.) Hopefully, this will allow you to do your "homework" and decide how you wish to vote on August 15th.

Here is the tentative agreement:

July 26, 2002

2001-2002:
$111,000 (includes TRS/THIS) payable over the 2002-2003 contract year

Section 4.8 - Insurance

1. The Board agrees to pay a maximum of $443.32 toward the employee's monthly health insurance premium for individual or family coverage under the District's current health insurance plan. It is the specific intent of the parties that the Board shall continue to pay the full individual premium toward individual or family coverage and that the District's maximum contribution toward any monthly health insurance premium for individual or family coverage shall not, under the terms of this Agreement, exceed $443.32.

2. It is further agreed that, if the insurance premium is reduced below $443.32, the difference shall be rebated to the employee as a bonus and paid to the employee as a one time payment due within 60 days of the anniversary date of the insurance policy. The rebate shall be calculated from the anniversary date of the reduction in premium costs and calculated based on the savings over 12 months. The following stipulations shall be noted:

A. The total rebate amount due CAT members, if any, shall first be reduced by $25,000.00 and used to pay a 1% increase on the pay schedule for the 2003-2004 school year. However, if the total insurance rebate results in a savings in an amount less than $25,000.00 in insurance premiums paid on behalf of CAT members, that amount and not the 1% shall be added to the pay schedule. For example, if the total rebate savings is only $10,000.00, the District will add a maximum of $10,000.00 to the pay schedule for the 2003-2004 school year and shall not be obligated to add the 1% to the pay schedule. Any insurance savings, which exceeds $25,000.00, shall be rebated to the employees in accordance with the following stipulations.

(i) The employee must have participated in the District health insurance plan for 12 full months prior to the anniversary date of the year in which the rebate, if any, is paid to the employee.

(ii) The rebate, if any, shall not be deemed a perpetual rebate in any subsequent year in which a rebate is paid. For example, if the health insurance premium were reduced to $343.32 for a twelve-month period in the first year, an employee who participated in the plan for the twelve-month period would receive a rebate of $1,200 minus the employee's pro-rated share of the $25,000.00 rebated to the District. If the premium remained at $343.32 for a second twelve-month period, the employee would not receive a rebate. If the health insurance premium were reduced to $243.00 in the third twelve-month period, the employee would receive a rebate of $1,200 (the difference between the second and third year premiums and not the difference between the first and third year premiums.)

(iii) The parties specifically agree that a rebate, if any, paid to an employee pursuant to this contract provision, shall not be considered in any subsequent collective bargaining sessions as perpetual salary and any rebates paid shall not effect the salary schedule cells.

(iv) The parties specifically acknowledge that, based on the health insurance premiums, there is no guarantee of any rebate in any year of this agreement.

3. In the event the District changes its health insurance carrier, any selected insurance policy shall provide comparable coverage to the policy in place at the implementation of this agreement. Any change of carrier and/or coverage shall be approved by a majority vote of the employees belonging to said group health insurance program.

4. The Board shall continue to maintain a 125 Cafeteria Plan which allows each employee the option of sheltering his/her share of the District's group health insurance premiums as well as other insurance premiums determined to be permissible under the plan.

2002-2003 School Year:
Step + 2%

2003-2004 School Year:
Step + 1% - The 1% will be added to the pay schedule if the rebate on insurance as specified in Section 4.8 of this Agreement results in a insurance savings of $25,000.00 or more on the premiums paid on behalf of CAT members. However, if the insurance rebate as specified in Section 4.8 of this Agreement results in a savings in an amount less than $25,000.00 in insurance premiums paid on behalf of CAT members, that amount and not the 1% shall be added to the pay schedule. For example, if the total rebate savings is only $10,000.00, the District will add a maximum of $10,000.00 to the pay scale for the 2003-2004 school year and shall not be obligated to add the 1% to the pay schedule.

2004-2005 School Year:
Step + 3%

SEVERANCE PAY:

Those employees who were employed during the 2001-2002 school year and will not be employed by the District during the 2002-2003 school year, with the exception of any employee who was moved from an employee position to an administrative position, shall receive the following severance bonus (non-salary) in an amount as specified bellow:

A. 0 - 5 years employment with the District = $500.00 maximum
B. 6-10 years employment with the District = $750.00 maximum
C. 11-20 years employment with the District = $1,000.00 maximum
D. 21 years or more = 4.25% on the employee's earnings for the 2001-2002 school year.

The above amounts paid to employees shall be paid in a lump sum without any TRS, federal, state or local taxes being withheld from said payments. The amount paid will be reported to the IRS on Form 1999. The District will not report said payments to TRS, as the District considers said payments a performance award payment.

LONGEVITY PAY:

The parties agree the pay schedule, during the term of this agreement, shall have the same number of steps as reflected in the 2000-2001 salary schedule. However, beginning in the 2001-2002 school year, a teacher who is beyond the last step of a lane on the salary schedule, will receive annually a salary payment, which shall be calculated in an amount equivalent to the last highest step increase in their lane plus any other salary increases under this agreement, which amount shall be added to their last annual salary.

NO REPRISAL/LITIGATION

The Board and Association shall not discriminate or retaliate against any bargaining unit member for participation in or electing not to participate in the strike or any of the activities associated with the strike. Moreover, the Association agrees to withdraw all litigation in any forum, including all grievances and all unfair labor practice charges, which are related to or were or could have been filed as a result of the 17-day strike or bargaining which occurred between the parties and resulted in the new collective bargaining agreement. The Association further agrees it will not file or initiate any litigation in any forum, including grievances or unfair labor practice charges, which are related to or were or could have been filed as a result of the 17-day strike or bargaining which occurred between the parties and resulted in the new collective bargaining agreement.

To review previously TA'd language items, read CAT Tracks for July 28th.