Take Action: Tell legislators that all wages, in any form, should remain bargainable
04/22/2015
We need your help on a chronic issue concerning teacher bargaining rights. In SB 566, HB 1001 and HB 1009—there is language to institute master’s degree wage supplements and to provide the continuation of teacher bonus pay.
In every version, the authors have specifically prohibited these from being a part of teacher collective bargaining—even though they are clearly salary and wage-related matters.
Make no mistake. ISTA is very supportive of acknowledging the value of formal continued education by way of a relevant master’s degree and in providing salary bonuses for highly effective and effective teachers.
However, in 2011, the General Assembly narrowed Indiana’s teacher collective bargaining law to salary and wage-related issues. Last year, when bonus pay was distributed, the Indiana Education Employment Relations Board (IEERB) confirmed that this was a salary issue required to be bargained.
Bargaining ensures that the collective voice of teachers is heard—nothing more, nothing less. It is certainly not something policymakers should fear.
Now, it appears as though the General Assembly is carving out exceptions to the already few salary and wage-issues that exist. Earning a master’s degree is a matter of status. You either have one or you don’t. Its value in a particular school district should be considered in light of all of the monies available to be bargained. To carve this out as an item to unilaterally be decided by the administration directly affects the monies that are available to be bargained for other items.
As for performance pay, the proposals also allow the administration to include up to 50 percent of the bonus into future base pay. This could entirely consume monies available for future salary increases in general. There is also no requirement that the bonus pay be distributed in equal amounts to all qualified staff or even equally within the same category of performance. One version even allows administrators to be eligible for the bonus monies they then get to distribute.
