Decorah Education Association slams legislators and makes first master contract pitch for 2019-20

A frustrated Decorah Education Association (DEA) made its first venture into contract negotiations for the 2019-20 Master Contract with the Decorah Community Schools on Monday afternoon.

But they didn't begin with an offer. Their communication, delivered by DEA chief negotiator Steve Peterson, began with an introduction:

"As we begin our contract negotiations, teachers feel we must publicly acknowledge that things have changed. In 2017, the Iowa governor and our local representatives, Mr. Bergan and Mr. Breitbach, gutted Chapter 20, which are the rules that describe what we can talk about. Their actions will do long-term damage to our profession and to public education in Iowa."

Peterson said he would challenge anyone to provide an example of any state whose public education had benefited by legislative efforts to gut collective bargaining. Superintendent Mike Haluska agreed, and noted disastrous results in Kansas.

The DEA was deliberate in not critiquing the Decorah Community School Board, noting a long standing and productive history of mutually respectful collaboration.

The DEA requested the possibility of this contract being offered for a duration of five years, with the opportunity for either party to reopen negotiations each year.

The specific financial request was to "return our contract to the full (salary) steps that we had before the 2017-18 bargaining year."

Although the typical base salary request was not placed on the table by the DEA, that does not mean it will not be later on the table, since the School Board will need to include that as part of their initial offer.

The "elephant" in the room, as noted by Peterson is the issue of insurance – which the DEA cannot be discussing.  Obviously, the position of the DEA in negotiating salary is intimately related to what their members will need to meet insurance needs. It is assumed that insurance costs could see a significant rise this year, and that amount is not yet defined. Since insurance is not a negotiable item, that leaves a lot of unknowns. (As an example of the change, previously, even if insurance costs were not fully known, negotiations might have requested "x" percentage payment of family health coverage.) It is hoped, however, that there can be some guidance on costs and benefits before contract negotiations are completed.

This is the first time that the negotiation process has happened since the Republican controlled Iowa Legislature voted along party lines to approve sweeping changes in February, 2017, that limited the collective bargaining rights of most Iowa public employees, including teachers. That legislation allows some bargaining related to salary, but specifically excludes topics such as insurance packages and other employer/employee relationship issues. (Public safety employees such as police officers and firefighters were not restricted to the extent as other public employees.)

Decorah Community Schools and the DEA quickly negotiated two years of contracts in 2017, while they still could before the legislation took effect.

The School Board is expected to provide a counter offer next week.