August 5 Bargaining Update

HTEC Members,

Our bargaining team met with the CMO on Friday afternoon for a short session to present an updated comprehensive proposal.

The proposal continues with our agreements on Class Size, Benefits, Leaves, Hours and the Effect (duration) of our final union contract, while making updates to the following proposals:
 

Wages

Full Proposal Here

Our bargaining team noticed two significant errors on how the CMO calculated the cost of their proposed retention bonus.

First, the CMO’s calculation assumed 100-percent retention of educators from last year to this year. We know that isn’t accurate, as the last board meeting included a report that the CMO was expecting approximately 80-percent of teachers returning for 2022-23.

Second, the CMO incorrectly calculated the cost of legally-required contributions to CalSTRS. The proposal estimated that HTH would be required to contribute 19.1-percent of the one-time bonus towards CalSTRS. However, this is the rate that employers are required to pay for regular salary earnings. As a one-time non-salary bonus employers are required to contribute just 8.25-percent towards CalSTRS.

By changing these incorrect assumptions, our bargaining team proposed a Retention and New Hire Bonus that falls within $124 of the school’s estimated costs. The proposed bonus structure includes:

• A $400 signing bonus for new hires
• $1,725 for full-time educators on steps 1 through 6 of the pay scale ($850 for part-time)
• $3,650 for full-time educators on steps 7 or higher ($1,800 for part-time)

While it is slightly altered from the CMO’s proposed tiered bonus schedule, we believe the higher bonus for teachers in steps 7 and above provides equity for those in the middle of the pay scale. That is because the proposed full pay scale would provide 9 to 11-percent raises for teachers on the lower steps, while teachers in the middle steps would receive as little as a 4 to 5-percent increase. Our salary schedule, when compared to surrounding district and charter schools also would provide comparability at the lower steps but lag in the middle. 

We believe this tiered bonus structure provides equity that helps mitigate these inequalities.

Discipline/Employment Status

The CMO previously proposed that educators facing termination would have the ability to appeal to the CEO of the entire organization, who would then make a final and binding decision. We do not believe it is fair or transparent to have someone with a vested interest in the outcome of the appeal determining whether or not HTH correctly followed the contractual process for dismissal. Previously, we proposed that dismissals follow an expedited appeal process that quickly gets to a neutral third party.

On Friday, we proposed a compromise process that includes a non-binding appeal to the CEO to attempt to resolve any differences as early as possible. Absent a resolution, the unit member facing dismissal could appeal to a process that includes a mediator and/or arbitrator provided by California’s State Mediation and Conciliation Services. This is a fair process because it will ensure that the person who decides if the contractual process was followed does not have a vested interest in the decision.

Layoffs

Our initial proposal on the way the school should determine how to reduce staff in the unlikely event of layoffs included the creation of a HTEC-CMO committee that would jointly develop a specific proposal for how to align the process with HTH’s design principles.

Last month, the CMO let us know they did not want to create a committee and instead proposed that they have the unilateral discretion to determine who is laid off. This lacks transparency and creates confusion on who would be let go if the CMO reduced the number of teachers at HTH.

We proposed that we use the industry-standard objective criteria of seniority for layoffs. Seniority, while an imperfect metric, creates a clear and fair order for who gets laid off. Everyone knows where they stand and don’t have to rely on the CMO to make the decision.

We also included in our proposal that any educator who is laid off would be offered any vacant positions for a period of 18 months. This provides a fair opportunity for laid off teachers to be rehired in the event that financial or staffing conditions change or if natural attrition results in the CMO needing to hire more teachers.

Assignments and Transfers

We believe our schools and students deserve stable staffing at our schools. That’s why we continue to propose that HTH cannot transfer teachers to another school or village if a vacant position remains at their school. The CMO previously proposed that teachers can be moved at the CMO’s full discretion.

Collective Rights

Our only disagreement on the rights we have as a Collective is in regards to the amount of time a unit member has available to focus on Collective-specific business. The CMO has agreed to one block of up to 5 days per year, while we’ve proposed the ability to take a cumulative total of up to 20 non-consecutive days throughout the year.

Management Rights

The CMO has asked for the ability to suspend the contract in emergency situations where the continued operation of the school is at risk. Our compromised proposal would allow them to do this in order to make immediate decisions in response to the emergency. They would then have to bargain over the issue if any changes remain after 20 days. We believe this is fair and allows the CMO to have the flexibility necessary to operate schools.

Recognition

Our proposal clarifies the CMO’s previous proposal with regards to outsourcing positions. Our proposal states that the CMO can temporarily contract out positions if they cannot hire them. This ensures that positions will return once the CMO is able to find someone to hire.