Board
members: NJEA too negative
Say education association blocks
deals. Talks with Oxford, Great Meadows teachers at impasse.
Monday, March 27, 206 • By Lynn Olanoff •
The Express-Times
School board members from two Warren
County districts involved in ongoing teachers contract
negotiations say the New Jersey Education Association is
hindering settlement.
School board members from Oxford and
Great Meadows say the state association's agenda has
influenced their teachers from accepting contract offers. In
both districts, state-appointed officials are involved in
negotiations after months of talks resulted in an
impasse.
The Oxford Board of Education rebuked the
state education association in a two-page statement last
week. The school board said the NJEA urged Oxford teachers
to turn down a contract offer because it included a minimal
contribution toward dependents' health benefits. The
contribution would have been between $10 and $25 per
paycheck, according to the school board.
The Oxford School Board said the NJEA is
involved similarly in Great Meadows.
"A quick look at Great Meadows and its
problematic negotiations brings up a common denominator --
the same negotiator from the NJEA orchestrating job actions
and propaganda releases," the Oxford board's statement
says.
When asked about the Oxford statement,
Bob Jones, the head negotiator for the Great Meadows School
Board, said he largely agreed the NJEA negatively influenced
contract negotiations.
"I don't really feel the negotiations are
reflective of the local goals and agenda, mainly because of
the presence of the NJEA," Jones said Friday. "Basically the
same forces are at play everywhere."
The Great Meadows School Board asked its
teachers to negotiate without their NJEA negotiator, but
"that's been rejected," Jones said.
Jones declined to say if contributions
toward health benefits were an issue NJEA exerted influence
over. He said health benefits and salaries are the sticking
points in Great Meadows and in every teachers
contract.
The NJEA advises local teachers unions to
fight to keep their health benefits, but the state
association never tells teachers what to do, said Dawn
Hiltner, a NJEA spokeswoman.
"Ultimately, it's the local's decision,
but we advise them to dig their heels in and stick to their
ground," Hiltner said. "What kind of advisers would we be if
we advised them to give things back?"
That advice is within reason, Hiltner
said. The NJEA does not advise teachers to request salaries
and health benefits above what school districts can afford,
she said.
"It's not a case of NJEA in Warren County
trying to wreak havoc on the taxpayers," Hiltner
said.
Teachers association presidents from
Great Meadows and Oxford did not return calls for comment
Friday.
Reporter Lynn Olanoff can be reached at 908-475-8044 or by
e-mail at lolanoff@express-times.com.
© 2006 The Express-Times. Used with
permission.
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