What do contract negotiations look like in your district? Here’s how we do things in Berkeley, the once-liberal town where the median home price is now $1.5 million.

Before the campaign begins, our union president presents the district’s budget to us, emphasizing how little there is available for raises. Then he picks a negotiating team of allies. Next, he tells us what compensation he has demanded of the District. It’s a “reasonable” amount – and sure enough, after very little back and forth, with very little action by teachers beyond wearing union shirts and asking local businesses to put up signs supporting teachers, the District agrees to nearly that amount. The TA is announced; the exec board votes to recommend it (always a lopsided vote; this year something like 30 to 4); and although a handful of teachers at the high school suggest voting no, the TA is approved, this year by 89%.

Soon after, we start hearing from the classified employees, who have a “me-too” clause: they feel betrayed that we put up no fight. A few teachers point out that the new contract fails to keep up with inflation. (This year, it looked great: ~15% over two years… but Social Security cost of living increases were 5.9% and 8.7% for the past two years, for a total of 14.6% – and we are about to lose at least 1 or 2% in increases to our health care – so overall, another loss!) Next, teachers quit, some because they can’t afford to teach here; others because they’re tired of trying to deal with the widest Black/White achievement gap in the country with no new resources. Meanwhile, union leaders keep crowing about our great contract, while prohibiting any cross-site conversation among teachers: all communication is top-down. So when we “troublemakers” advocate banding together with other districts for a statewide strike, we’re told that our colleagues “just aren’t ready.”

This is how things have gone every contract for the 18 years I’ve been in BUSD— except for the one year when teachers at Berkeley High pulled off two wildcat strikes, and suddenly the District suggested a second parcel tax. Now BUSD has a per-pupil income 25% about the state average but our compensation is still near the bottom of Alameda County, and the District is unable to fill SPED, Math, Music, and other jobs.

         Dan Plonsey,          Berkeley Federation of Teachers