rich 1.0 Action Network https://actionnetwork.org <link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/petition/support-the-rutland-northeast-su-school-staff-2?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-petition-area-support-the-rutland-northeast-su-school-staff-2' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div> Vermont-NEA https://actionnetwork.org/groups/vermont-nea https://can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/petitions/photos/000/047/782/normal/RNEA.jpg The Neshobe School Board and RNESU School Board did something school boards rarely do: refused to bargain any further and imposed working conditions on bus drivers and paraeducators. By imposing working conditions on the lowest-paid workers in our schools, the board tossed many years of peaceful labor relations out of the window and made it even harder for these dedicated employees to earn a living while taking care of the community’s students. By resorting to the imposition, the board essentially are saying they don’t want to reach a settlement agreed to by both sides. They would rather sour their relationship with paraeducators and bus drivers, spend thousands on an outside attorney, and alienate the community instead of reaching a settlement. Instead of using a report from a neutral fact-finder as a road map to settlement, the board chose to do what they did. And it’s a shame – a fair, negotiated agreement would cost the district only $20,000 in new wages – OVER TWO YEARS. Legal fees to the board’s high-priced Burlington attorney alone could eat that up very quickly. The imposed minimal wage increase, coupled with a 1.5 percent hike in what employees pay toward health insurance, means that these hard-working people will get less than $5 a week in extra pay. Already, the average pay for paras and bus drivers is around $20,000 a year. More importantly, support staff are now “maxed out” in terms of their health insurance contribution amount under the Affordable Care Act. Any more increases to employee contributions, like those imposed by the board, would kick support staff out of their current health insurance plan and into an unknown plan on the state’s health care exchange. The current insurance plan has served the district and its employees well for over two decades. The union representing the RNESU/Neshobe paraeducators and bus drivers held a membership meeting on September 15th and unanimously voted to reject the imposition and call on the board to return to the bargaining table. We now need your help. Please sign the petition to call on the school board to return to the bargaining table and negotiate a contract and throw out the imposition. We need to work together, not unilaterally. The bus drivers and paraeducators serving the communities’ children are ready to bargain. Won’t you tell the board to do the same? https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/support-the-rutland-northeast-su-school-staff-2