District, workers forge accord.

Byline: ANNE WILLIAMS The Register-Guard

After three bargaining sessions with a state mediator, the Eugene School District has struck a tentative contract agreement with its classified employees.

Bargaining teams for the district and the Oregon School Employees Association forged a one-year agreement last Friday, said Jill Simmons, president of the local OSEA chapter. A ratification vote for union members will likely be scheduled for Sept. 26.

The one-year term of the tentative contract is atypical, Simmons said - previous contracts, including the current one, have covered at least two years. But both sides agreed it was best to leave options open for next year, given the fiscal uncertainties plaguing the state.

The OSEA represents about 900 instructional assistants, food service workers, secretaries, maintenance workers, bus drivers and other nonteaching school employees.

Ted Heid, the district's director of labor relations, said the tentative agreement includes a 2 percent across-the-board raise, plus an additional 2.5 percent for employees in line for step increases.

The district's monthly insurance contribution would increase by $21 to $505 for employees who work between four and six hours a day, and by $41 to $567 a month for employees who work more than six hours a day, Heid said.

The OSEA asked for more, he said, but the district could not afford it. To avoid out-of-pocket premium increases, the union would instead dip into its own insurance reserve fund to get through the year, he said.

"That's not sustainable over time, but that's how we got to the agreement," he said.

Simmons declined to discuss the specifics of the contract, explaining that union members had not yet had a chance to review it. But she said it fails to assuage pressing concerns about escalating health care premiums that in some cases have negated annual wage increases.

"This doesn't resolve the insurance problems of classified employees, but given the current climate financially and the situation we're in with the state Legislature, I personally am feeling this is the best contract we are able to get at this point in time," Simmons said. "If I didn't feel that way, I wouldn't have been willing to enter into an agreement."

The two teams began meeting last December and agreed to seek help from a state mediator in June after failing to resolve disagreements on the total cost of the contract. They'll probably begin meeting again as soon as this December to start work on next year's contract.

Heid said he believes the proposed deal is as fair as possible, given that the district has already cut staff and programs to help close an $8 million budget gap and may well face additional cuts later this year.

"As usual, the district is nervous about spending on these kinds of pay increases given the kind of climate we're operating in," he said. But he said the contract is on par with the one-year contract extension approved by the teacher's union earlier this year.

The OSEA's current contract will expire on Sept. 30.