Central Bucks, support staff going back to negotiating table over union contract

A new contract between the Central Bucks School District and its support staff union is still at least weeks away after a third-party arbitrator couldn't make headway in the stalled negotiations.

The Central Bucks Education Support Professional Association members have been working without a new contract since June, with talks apparently in gridlock with the district administration for months.

An arbitrator was called in to act as a mediator who would review the situation and give a report with recommendations for the new contract.

Central Bucks Director of Human Resources Andrea DiDio-Hauber told school board members Tuesday that the union declined the arbitrator's report, which was finalized last month, but negotiations will continue.

"We are hopeful that we are very close and that we will be able to bring forward a contract that is in both the district and support staff's favor to provide some information to you further in the coming weeks," DiDio-Hauber said.

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While specifics have not been discussed publicly, the stalemate appears to be at least in part due to pay increases that employees have said need to reflect the added work brought by the pandemic since 2020.

The union had a five-year contract with wage rate increases set before the coronavirus rattled just about every facet of education.

A copy of the previous union contract available online through www.cbsd.org shows annual wage increases based on market rates projected between the 2016-2017 and 2020-2021 school years.

For example, a staff nurse who made less than $25.98 an hour, the market rate in the 2016-2017 school year, would have seen a 3% pay increase for that year, followed by a 3.5% raise for each of the next two school years, and a 3.75% increase in each of the following two school years until the contact expired.

District support workers told this news organization in November that they expected the new contract would take into consideration all of the additional responsibilities brought on by the pandemic.

Union President Daneen Dry said Wednesday that the arbitrator's recommendations didn't quite reach the expectations for members.

"After serving our students over these past two challenging years, we know we deserve better. We are hopeful that the district and CBESPA will continue to work towards a contract resolution," Dry said.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Central Bucks, support staff go back to table over union contract