Teachers union contracts will be negotiated in 10 Washington and Greene public school entities this year.
In addition to the Intermediate Unit 1 and the Greene County Career and Technology Center, eight districts will be negotiating teacher contracts that are ending this summer, said Mary Jane Phillips, Pennsylvania State Education Association communications organization specialist.
The Washington County districts are: Washington, Canon-McMillan, Fort Cherry, Charleroi and McGuffey. The Greene County districts are Jefferson-Morgan, Southeastern Greene and West Greene.
There were no early-bird contracts this year. Initial bargaining sessions will begin in January, Phillips said. Some unions will share initial proposals then, she said.
She expects that salary and benefits will be among the negotiated issues this year. Some unions also negotiate educational issues, such as class size and getting appropriate materials for classes, she said.
"We always hope that it goes well," Phillips said.
Washington is exploring timed mediation. Union and district representatives will have a meeting in January to learn more about how that process works, said Washington business manager Rick Mancini.
Timed mediation limits the issues that can be negotiated, he said. Each side picks the issues they want to negotiate. They spend a weekend working through one issue at a time. After the issue is resolved, it cannot be brought back up for negotiation, he said.
Both parties will have to decide if they want to use that process, he said.
He expects the negotiations to be a lot smoother than the last time around, when the teachers went on strike.
"I think both sides want to try and get it resolved," Mancini said.
Southeastern Greene School Board and the district's teachers union held an initial bargaining session in November.
Another session has not yet been scheduled, said district business manager Pat Sweeney.
"We're just waiting until after the holidays," he said. "We should have one fairly quickly after that."
At the initial meeting, the board was presented with a proposal from the 57-member Southeastern Greene Education Association. The board intends to review that proposal and develop a counter-proposal, Sweeney said.
Though the talks are only beginning, Sweeney said he expected the main issues will be those that are normally considered during negotiations. These are salaries and the "total benefits package," which includes not only health care but also the district's contributions for retirement.
The district's current three-year contract expires June 30.
West Greene School District just started negotiating with its teachers union with a meet-and-greet session in early December. The current contract will expire June 30. Both sides will gather again to begin formal negotiations Jan. 15.
Thelma Szarell, West Greene superintendent, said negotiations almost always come down to salary and benefits, and this year, a key component will be health benefits.
"No matter where you work, it seems that all workers are having to pay more because the cost of the health benefits has just been skyrocketing," she said.
Nevertheless, Szarell is optimistic that the union and school district will be able to reach a fair contract without too many problems.
Fort Cherry business manager Paul Sroka also expects salaries and health benefits to be negotiated issues.
Sroka said the district is moving toward teachers paying something for health insurance premiums because all other employees do. Those changes were negotiated with the other unions since the last teachers contract was approved.
"Each side has issues they want resolved," he said. "It's usually between March and June that's there's movement. It really depends on what each group considers a core issue. It's give and take on both sides."
If a district and union can't reach an agreement, they can go through mediation, Sroka said. If that's not resolved, teachers work under the existing contract unless they strike.
Cara Host and Bob Niedbala contributed to this report.