NORWICH – After more than two years of negotiations, BOCES teachers, therapists and other professionals have finally reached agreement on a contract.
Labor Relations specialist Mike Lynch, who represents the New York State United Teachers union, said a tentative agreement was reached between union officials and the BOCES administration on Jan. 16.
No details of the contract will be released until the agreement is ratified at the BOCES Board of Education meeting Jan. 31.
“We are very excited to bring this package to our members. It’s been a long struggle,” Lynch said.
Approximately 120 employees have been working at both the Norwich and Masonville BOCES campuses without a contract since June 30, 2005. Efforts by union members have included billboards, lawn signs and rallies. As many as 15 bargaining sessions were held and other meetings with mediators and fact finders.
“This is an important step for us, a real breakthrough,” said Lynch.
BOCES Director of Employee Relations Mark Pettitt said the administrators are hopeful that the BOCES board will ratify the agreement, implement it and move forward. “We think this contract is fair to both parties,” he said.
Kay White, a 28-year veteran teacher and president of the BOCES Teachers Association, said she has never seen a contract negotiation process take so long to reach an agreement. She will present the contract package in detail to union members as well as the rest of negotiation team on Jan. 30.
“We will present it to our members, and hopefully the board will ratify it the next night at their meeting,” she said. “It’s been a long haul.”
White explained that although the negotiation process took much longer than anticipated, members will be pleased with the offer and the fairness of the contact. “We stood our ground and it benefited us to wait,” she said.
White and her husband, Steve, who is also a BOCES special education teacher and was head negotiator for the union, said they were both satisfied that a fair contract agreement had been reached.