FUTA / CTA / NEA Memo dated February 17th, 2010.
Bargaining Update #3.
In preparation for bargaining, the FUTA bargaining team examined the district documents that they submitted to the county. The team also poured over the detailed budget analysis provided by CTA. Our analysis shows a very different picture than the information that has been presented by the district.

One of the sound bites from the district site presentations is that FUTA is over 70% of the budget. While we recognize that salaries are a large portion of the district budget and that certificated is the largest employee group, we can not find any information that supports this claim. Our budget analysis shows that salaries for our bargaining unit are 43% of the budget. When we include statutory payroll benefits and health and welfare benefits for our bargaining unit, this equals approximately 58%.

We plan to meet with the district to begin negotiations on Tues Feb 23. Pertinent financial information has been requested from district. In order to represent our members at the bargaining table, it is imperative that we have all necessary financial data provided in a timely manner. Repeated requests have been made for documents including the three page document Mike Bush presented at the Feb 2nd board meeting during the budget update. Over the past two weeks, four requests have been made for this data. The district has failed to cooperate. FUTA has filed a grievance and is currently working with CTA legal services to file an Unfair Labor Practice since this is a clear violation of the law under the Educational Employment Relations Act.

We work for a non-profit organization. Fillmore Unified School District receives money from the state and federal government for the sole purpose of educating the children of Fillmore. So why is the district continuing the trend of double plus reserves while threatening drastic cuts?

FUTA leadership was disappointed that the school board voted to cut five instructional days for our students and set the start and end dates for the calendar before negotiations have even started. The district has also taken the unprecedented step of paying for an attorney to participate in negotiations. While district has submitted three different initial proposals to the school board, they have yet to correctly follow the sunshine process for their most recent version in a legal manner. FUTA is committed to negotiate in good faith and we expect the district will as well.

FUTA Negotiating Priorities:
1. Negotiate temporary solutions for temporary problems.
2. Ensure all budgetary flexibility has been exhausted
3. Protect our contract (including class size)