Colfax teachers rally to protect seniority-based layoff policy

An 18-teacher rally on Main Street in Colfax last Wednesday preceded the second round of mediation talks between the school teacher’s union and the school district on a contract deadlock.

Cars honked and several people cheered as they drove past teachers holding signs that read “Protect Our Contract” and “Keep Our RIF Policy” outside the Public Service Building at 4 p.m.

The teachers’ Colfax Education Association and the district administration are trying to resolve a dispute over how layoffs are decided. The dispute is part of an overall contract deadlock.

After the teachers’ contract expired last year, the teachers and district agreed to extend the prior contract through the 2010-2011 school year.

The CEA has been pushing for its prior contract to remain the same regarding layoffs. The prior policy required layoffs to be based on seniority with the last staff member hired to be the first laid off.

The district is calling for layoffs to be based on subject area first and then on seniority second. This was the content of the district’s counter proposal presented last Wednesday.

Last Wednesday’s mediation session started inside the Public Service Building after the teachers’ demonstration concluded. A representative from the state’s Public Employees Relations Commission presided.

The district was represented by Supt. Michael Morgan and business manager Reece Jenkin after the district opted to drop the services of a professional negotiator.

“We were after some money saving since we didn’t think we were moving at the rate we’d like to move,” said Morgan.

Negotiators for the Colfax Education Association came from the Washington Education Association. Cary Cammack, CEA president, and teachers Chris Clausen, Ross Swan and Shawna Vorderbrueggen participated.

“I think our RIF policy is good. I don’t think we need to be messing with that. They don’t have anything else to offer us in exchange for that,” said Sue Doering, P.E. teacher at Jennings Elementary.

Doering added she had put in 23 years at Colfax as a teacher. She doesn’t want to risk accepting a policy that could lead to a layoff for her or other teachers who have put in that much time.

“It’s so vague. It just doesn’t protect people,” Doering said.

CEA president Cary Cammack said he was disappointed in the district’s proposal.

“It didn’t come halfway. It was still pretty much what they had talked about in the past,” Cammack said.

Cammack said he couldn’t release the CEA’s counter-proposal before the June 14 mediation when it will be presented.

Cammack also said he believes the absence of a professional negotiator for the district has helped speed up the process. The two sides last Wednesday were able to check off some of the more minor aspects of the teacher’s contract.

“We got five or six things like that done. That’s nice to get taken care of,” Cammack said.

Supt. Morgan said he’d like to stress that the district’s layoff proposal is still largely a seniority-based policy.

For example, if the district decides it needs to cut teachers in the English program, it would still make those layoffs within the program based off seniority.

“Both proposals that the district has provided are a very heavy seniority-based proposal. They protect those employees with seniority,” he said.