Friday, November 11, 2005

Teachers will remain on the job despite illegal contract imposition

Holland teachers announced they will be in their classrooms and not on
the picket line despite the Holland school board’s illegal imposition
of a contract Thursday morning.

“We value this community and the future we all share. We heard the
community’s wishes. Therefore, we will not strike at this time. We only
wish the board had the interest of the community in mind as well. We
hope the community will continue to support us by telling the board to
stop this imposition,” said Charles Bullard, Holland Education
Association president.

“We believe our “Contract with the Community”, which the Board is
ignoring, is the way to a healthy future for the Holland Public
Schools.” Bullard added.

Despite continued bargaining sessions with a mediator, the school board
and its attorney, Barb Ruga, declared that negotiations were at an
impasse and illegally imposed a new contract on the teachers. The
terms of the new contract will take effect January 1, 2006.

Bullard said, “We were not at impasse. We presented a proposal and
after the district and their attorney reviewed it for less than thirty
minutes, they declared us to be at impasse. We are still willing to
bargain! We believe the board still has an obligation to bargain a new
contract with us and we will continue to demand the opportunity to
bargain and work out any and all outstanding issues.”

Under the newly imposed agreement, teachers will lose money in salary
and their benefits will be reduced. HEA’s last proposal offered the
administration an “out” from the insurance business that would allow
teachers to purchase their own insurance. The proposal was rejected by
the board.

“The target kept moving,” said Bullard. The board said they needed
cost-containment on insurance and we offered that, but it wasn’t
enough. The action of the board proved that their position was
preordained. The board would prefer confrontation and illegal
strong-arm tactics, which is in sharp contrast to the HEA and the
community’s desire for us to bargain a fair and equitable settlement.”