As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to worsen, your union is fighting for the workplace safety protections needed to protect you and our patients. On this page, you can find the latest resources to stay safe as we care for our patients during this frightening time.
This week, HCTA and District bargaining teams reached tentative agreement on Instructional salaries for 2020-21. The agreement combines the state’s Teacher Salary Increase Allocation (TSIA) with additional Board dollars to offer:
The settlement concludes a months long bargaining conversation complicated by scarcity of district funds and the statutory requirements of the TSIA. Challenges associated with the TSIA funds include:
As other districts’ distribution plans were rejected by the FLDOE for failure to comply with statute, it became apparent that HCTA’s efforts to minimize salary compression with a ‘banded’ approach to distribution may have resulted in the state withholding funds. In absence of significant additional District funds, resolving the issue of compression became unlikely.
As a result, the bargaining team presented a proposal that sought to address our other two primary goals: maintain a single salary schedule for all instructional employees and ensure that salary improvements help offset insurance increases. The additional Board dollars included in the final agreement addressed these priorities. Ultimately, HCTA was able to improve upon the District’s initial salary improvement offer of a flat $668 minimum increase to a full 2% while also ensuring that non-classroom teachers would not be left behind on a lower salary schedule. The adjusted instructional placement schedule will ensure that new hires will not come into the District at a higher pay level than current employees with the same years of experience.
It is worth noting that the HCTA proposal also sought a significant increase ($45/month/member) in the Board’s health insurance contribution. As the benefits offered to instructional staff cannot differ from the benefits offered to other employees, the increased contribution would have required an additional $1.5 million from the Board. Citing the uncertainty of current year funding due to lower than expected student enrollment, the District was unable to commit to the additional dollars needed.
The teams also discussed the impact of the recently approved millage increase. The increase will take effect in the 2021 property tax rolls, with these new local dollars available for bargaining in the 2021-22 school year. The District acknowledged at the table the Superintendent and Board’s intent for the majority of funds raised for staff salaries to be applied to instructional salaries. The parties will continue meeting in the months ahead to plan for the distribution of referendum dollars.
Effective November 12, 2020, use these 2 links for important employment related COVID-19 information.
NYS Department of Health, COVID-19 Pre-K to Grade 12 Toolkit
KFT signs historic agreement with Repollet administration creating Equity-In-Action Fellowships to increase faculty diversity while saving faculty and staff jobs and addressing transition to remote education.
Please click the link, Detroit Teacher -- 2020 Election Edition, to view our special edition newsletter featuring candidates for the Election of Officers, Executive Board and Trustees.
It is that time of year again...A&R HOLIDAY PARTY TIME!!!
We will once again be holding our annual Holiday Party at the Aquaturf on December 4, 2020
Many things will be the same:
We will have raffles
We will have Prime Rib dinners
We will have games
We will have music
We will give away a big screen TV (look for the decorated tree)
...but some things will be different (yep, 2020 is definitely the year of "different").
This will be a drive thru event
Everyone will stay in their cars for the event (we will not be going into the facility)
Everyone will be wearing a mask
No guests this year as we are limited on meals
We will also have "waves" of arrival times, remember, there will be 800 cars in attendance for this event and if we can handle 1 car per minute that means it will take 800 minutes to complete our event...800 minutes is over 12hrs!!! Love you guys, but 12hrs on a cold December day could be difficult.
Since we need to stagger everyone's arrival time, we will need everyone to select a "session" for arrival
The cost is $20 (perfect for 2020)...and this year there will be NO WALK-IN PAYMENTS...so, you can either fill out the form and mail it to the A&R Office along with a check for $20...or...this year, you can submit your credit card number and we will ring it through...in either manner, we will send you a confirmation letter via mail.
To Register/Pay By Check: use this form
To Register/Pay By Credit Card: follow this link
REGISTRATION DEADLINE IS TUESDAY NOVEMBER 24, 2020
[Editor's note: This was included in the inaugural issue of the MCEA newsletter.]
My name is Linda Day, and I am honored to have been nominated without opposition to serve as the president of your union.
During this unprecedented time, we see new challenges confronting working people all across this country. Despite these challenges, we have maintained our connection with our union and our members.
Fiction: I haven’t had a raise in 5 years
Has the pandemic put a damper on your plans? Looking to roll more than ten days of vacation time over into next year? You can! Our contract allows it. All you need to do is ask permission of your agency. And permission shall not be unreasonably denied. Simple as that!
Here is the contract language: No employee may carry over, without agency permission, more than ten days of vacation leave to the next year. Such permission shall not be unreasonably denied. (Article 18, Section Two).
This only applies to the vacation time you earned this year (not your entire vacation accrual bank); so if you earned 15 days of vacation this year and you only plan to use 2 days of vacation, you may request to carry over 13 days. We are aware that the State typically does NOT require employees to make this request, but for some unknown reason some agencies have decided to create problems where none has existed before. Therefore, we are advising everyone who wants to carry an excess of 10 days to make the request. There is NOT an agreed upon standard form for this purpose (sorry, DRS, you made this form up on your own and we don't accept it) so an email request should be sufficient.
The other option is to use your "excess" vacation (we certainly encourage everyone to take the needed time off), so please request vacation time if you don't want to carry any of it over into next year
[side note: A&R does not agree that the carry-over provision is based on a calendar year rather than a contract year, but the State is applying the calendar year for this carry-over provision].
