Pembroke School Board Draws A Line In The Sand

I wrote in this space recently about a dispute between Pembroke New Hampshire’s School Board and the local Teacher’s Union there. I suggested at the time that the basis for their dispute – this so-called “Evergreen Law” – was very problematic. The idea that salary increases continue unabated wherever contracts originally establishing them are no longer in effect seems, to me at least, to contradict the whole purpose of even having labor contracts.

Admittedly not a fan of Unions on general principle, I can still respect the rights of those choosing to organize in order to improve their work conditions. That said, I believe the “idea” of Unions has mutated into something more akin to competing interests gathering together around gaining some “thing” at the expense of the other, and further creating an atmosphere of contention, rather than working together to benefit the greater good of both parties.

The Pembroke flap continues with this story from the Concord Monitor in which we learn the parties are now arguing before the New Hampshire Public Employee Labor Relations Board.

The Union is claiming that the school board Chairman used “a ‘bullying’ negotiating style” and that the school board in general “engaged in surface bargaining with no intent to reach resolution on this matter.” Unable to reach agreement back in March, the Union is accusing school board Chairman Clint Hanson “of being ‘aggressive and belligerent’ during negotiations when affirming his intention to avoid the new law’s automatic salary increases.”

The school board’s side of the argument, according to the Monitor:

[T]he school board has said it will only accept a contract that finds a way around a provision in the evergreen law that gives teachers automatic salary step increases, regardless of whether a subsequent contract agreement is reached.

The school board’s initial proposals suggested redefining salary step increases, which are based on years of experience, as cost-of-living adjustments, which are exempted in the law from carrying over automatically each year.

At stake in this debate is, fundamentally, whether the Evergreen law can be forced upon the Pembroke school board or whether it can determine for itself how to handle its Teachers and their compensation packages and on what basis salaries and benefits are determined. As reported in the Monitor piece, the board believes “the new law deprives voters of the opportunity to decide each year whether teachers should get step increases.” This argument appears to be lost on the Teacher’s Union which seems more concerned with its own financial security than with the education and development of the children whose parents ultimately pay their salaries.

It has been reported elsewhere that both sides of this flap are prepared to ask the New Hampshire Supreme Court to make the final decision on this ussue, and perhaps such a fight is necessary for the greater good of ALL Granite Staters.

The down side, of course, is that all that money could be better spent on the children of the Pembroke school district rather than on a gaggle of lawyers whose interests are not shared with the parents of Pembroke’s children. If a fight must be waged, let it be waged in Pembroke…ultimately we will find out whether the NH Supremes believe it is up to the will of the people to determine how Teachers are compensated for their performance, or if that decision is best left to the Legislators in Concord (after a bevy of lobbying efforts from Teacher’s Unions all around the State seeking to line their OWN pockets).

It’s unfortunate that, throughout this debate, no one is focusing on the best interests of our children in their local communities.