MANCHESTER, NH – School Board Negotiations Committee Chairman Rich Girard announced that negotiations with the city’s teachers have stalled. In a statement issued on Feb. 25 Girard said that negotiators for the Manchester Education Association informed the committee of their decision to go to mediation. As a result, there will be no further contract discussions until the mediation session scheduled for March 21, 2019.
“Frankly, we were caught by surprise and are disappointed by the MEA’s decision. We believed substantial progress had been made, which we announced in a joint statement just a couple of weeks ago, and were awaiting a response to the most recent salary offer we made when we got the news. At this point, we really don’t know what concerns they have that led to this decision.”
MEA President Sue Hannan issued the following statement:
“MEA has requested to go to mediation regarding negotiations of salary. Both sides have moved significantly toward finding a salary increase that would be mutually beneficial. MEA came in with many attempts to meet the Board at their numbers. We all agreed that we needed to find a proposal that would be ratifiable by both sides, but we could not. While progress was made, the tax cap and competing educational needs was the problem moving forward. MEA views the input of a mediator a smart and needed step so that the teams could hopefully proceed. At all times, MEA continues to desire a successor contract that respects and honors the work that Manchester Educators do every day to educate Manchester Public School students.”
Girard noted that the MEA’s decision to go to mediation will further delay the conclusion of talks and may jeopardize the board’s ability to add money to its budget request to fund a new contract.
“March 21st is a ways away and past the goal we’d mutually set to come to terms prior to Superintendent Vargas making his budget recommendations to the school board,” Girard said. “At this point, it seems clear we’re going to have to revise our budget request to accommodate any agreement we might reach with the teachers.”
