• Teacher’s settlement a major set-back for education Teacher’s settlement a major set-back for education By Kioni Dudley On Thursday, teachers are being asked to ratify a contract that is not good for teachers and not good for education in
• Teacher’s settlement a major set-back for education
Teacher’s settlement a major set-back for education
By Kioni Dudley
On Thursday, teachers are being asked to ratify a contract that is not good for teachers and not good for education in this State. Touted as a 7% raise for all teachers, it is actually only a 4% raise for teachers with Master’s degrees and equivalents (more than half of all teachers), and a 1% raise for those with Ph.D.s.
In the last contract, 2001-2003, the union won extra pay for teachers with advanced degrees — 3% for those with Master’s degrees or equivalent, and 6% for Ph.D.s. Because this extra pay “differentiated” those with advanced degrees from others, it was called a pay “differential.”
The differential (extra pay) was a great incentive for teachers to pursue further studies. It was a tool that would greatly increase knowledge of subject matter for a very large part of the teaching workforce, a smart move to get better educated teachers into classrooms fast.
We negotiated for the pay differential, went on strike, won it, and fought for it and won it again through arbitration. It was worth fighting for, and it was ours by right.
This year the HSTA didn’t even bargain for it. And they are ignoring its loss when they claim to have won a 7% raise.
But isn’t it clear that if you had 3 of something, and someone took those 3 away and then gave you 7 back, you would only be ahead by 4? When more than half of your members are getting raises of 4% or 1%, how can you tell the public that everyone is getting 7%?
Since the pay differential was not reinstated, the 6, 675 teachers with advanced degrees have taken a 3% pay drop throughout the first year of the new contract, the year that we are just completing. The first increment-raise, which will come in the Fall of 2004, will only get those teachers back to the pay level they were at before they lost the differential. Their only real raise will come when they get the second raise (4%) after the new year.
Doctors, who are losing their 6% differential with the contract, will not equal their old pay until January, 2005, when they will also get their only true raise — 1%.
The hundreds of our most experienced teachers, those at longevity level who have advanced degrees, get nothing at all for the contract. They lose their 3% differential pay, and get only a 3% across the board raise. A forward move of zero. This contract punishes teachers for experience and advanced degrees!
Worst of all, raises for teachers, this year, are falling behind all of the other workers in the State, and that fact is being hidden from the public.
The average pay increase for all teachers hovers around 5%, the smallest increase for any union. Lagging teacher pay is not good for education in the state, and it is not what the public wants. There is a nation-wide shortage of teachers. More than a hundred classrooms in the state are taught by long-term subs because we can’t attract qualified teachers to fill them. The public realizes that we need higher teacher pay in order to compete with other states for new teachers. The public also realizes that a more highly educated teaching force is going to produce more knowledgeable and more effective teaching in the classroom. The pay differentials would bring both of these. This State can’t afford the setback that this contract will cause.
What would a “No” vote mean? A No vote on Thursday is not a Strike vote. If teachers vote to not support the settlement, the Negotiations Team goes back to the bargaining table.
We need to send a resounding message to the union to “Get back to the table and get teachers a raise that will do something for education.” Start with reinstating the 3% and 6% differentials. Then get all teachers a step increase plus 2% across the board for each of the two years, totaling the 10% raise funded by the legislature.
The alternative is many more classrooms without teachers, and missing a major opportunity to vastly improve teachers’ education and the quality of teaching in Hawai‘i’s classrooms. Vote No! on Thursday.
Kioni Dudley is a teacher at ‘Aiea High School
