Mediator to assist with teacher contract talks
Swaim says MTEA has been without a valid contract since 1996
By alison granito
Staff Writer

The Middletown Board of Education and the teachers union have agreed to bring in a state mediator to try and reach a contract settlement before school begins in the fall.

Contracts for the 980-member Middletown Township Education Association (MTEA), which represents teachers and support staff, expired on June 30.

The MTEA took a strike authorization vote last month in which only two of the union’s members voted against a strike. MTEA members went on a three-day strike in September 1998 before the last contract was settled.

According to MTEA President Diane Swaim, teachers will not come back to work without a contract in September.

Swaim said that although a settlement was reached in 1998, the Board of Education never signed off on that contract. Swaim said that in her opinion the union has been working without a valid contract since the expiration of the contract on June 30, 1996.

"In effect we’ve been working all five years without a signed contract," she said.

"We would like to reach a fair settlement as soon as possible," said Swaim, adding that there was "always hope" that a settlement could be reached by September.

Swaim said that although the tone of the negotiations has remained pleasant, she described last week’s bargaining session as "not productive."

Swaim said that the MTEA is requesting a 4.35 percent annual increase in pay for teachers, which she said is less than other settlements around the state which have been 5 percent in some cases. Additional sticking points for the teachers have been work time and the amount of contributions by teachers to their health benefits, Swaim said.

In April, voters defeated the district’s $104.7 million budget, and the Township Committee made $1.1 million in cuts to the budget in May.

School officials have said that the teacher settlement will be negotiated with the district’s budgetary constraints in mind. The budget provides for a 3.5 percent increase for teachers.

School officials have previously declined to discuss the specifics of the negotiations but have said that they are committed to reaching a fair settlement in time for the start of the school year.

Swaim said that the next session of talks, scheduled for tomorrow, would probably be rescheduled if no mediator was available.

Superintendent Jack DeTalvo and Board of Education President Patricia Walsh and Vice President Sherry Gevarter could not be reached for comment as of press time.