State teachers’ union president says Brownsville teachers unified in strike
BROWNSVILLE – The president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association said striking Brownsville Area School District teachers are united and optimistic as they enter the second week of their walkout. Patsy Tallarico visited teachers picketing at every school in the district Friday, hoping to inspire them.
“Their morale is excellent. They understand what they have to do. This is their second year without a contract,” Tallarico said. “They are together, united. They don’t want to be there, but they’re in a situation where they have to do this. They’re strong, they’re together and ready to see this to the end, and hopefully that will be soon.”
Brownsville Area teachers were optimistic Friday after a regular meeting the night before led to a one-on-one meeting between the Brownsville Education Association’s (BEA) negotiation team and the school board.
The BEA called a strike Monday after working for more than a year without a contract. Negotiations have been ongoing since January 2001.
BEA officials said they have been negotiating primarily with the district’s solicitor, Matt Hoffman, since talks began; however, after the board’s regular meeting, both parties agreed to negotiate directly and take Hoffman and Dan Shuman, PSEA adviser to the BEA, out of the equation.
BEA President Carl Garofalo pointed out that Shuman has been an adviser to BEA and not their lead speaker, but the BEA’s chief negotiator, John Ball, has primarily, from the beginning, negotiated with Hoffman and Superintendent Dr. Gerry Grant and not the board.
He said, though, that the board and the BEA negotiating team met at length late Thursday night and were able to make some progress.
The two parties were originally set to meet for the first time Tuesday, more than a week after the strike began.
“We spoke at length, laying some ground rules, and they were much more receptive to what’s going on,” Garofalo said, adding that he is optimistic after the talks.
“The school board was made aware of the issues, the communication lines are open and I look for good things to happen. Hopefully, the sun will shine again,” Tallarico added.
Tallarico said teachers in eight to 10 school districts across the state are on strike, and the main issues are health care and salaries, but they do differ “local to local.” The main sticking points in talks at Brownsville are health care, salaries and early-retirement incentives.
Tallarico said that at the beginning of this school year, some 200 districts were in negotiations, and of those, three or four were without contracts since 2000.
“Since Act 88, there has been a protraction. There are contracts that haven’t come to fruition because there is no closure with the act, and the board knows teachers have to get back into the classrooms at sometime,” Tallarico said. “This is something I’ve said all along: There has to be some kind of closure to make this work.”
Act 88, a state law, regulates the number and duration of teachers’ strikes to ensure that students receive the scheduled 180 days of instructions before June 15. Act 88 requires teachers to return to the classrooms if an agreement is reached or not.
Tallarico said the Wilkinsburg School District in Allegheny County holds the record at six years – followed by Ringgold at 51/2 – for teachers working without a contract.
According to Tallarico, the PSEU has 162,000 members and represents teachers, school support staff and some registered nurses in hospitals.
“We came today to show our membership that we are all together on this, that we have a family of 162,000, and when a member of the family is hurting the other members are there to help,” Tallarico said.
Area teachers, also members of PSEA, share Tallarico’s sentiments. Teachers from Uniontown Area Laurel Highlands and Albert Gallatin Area school districts attended the regular board meeting Thursday in support of Brownsville teachers.
“Solidarity brought us here tonight,” said Alissa Steele, past president of the Uniontown Area Education Association (UAEA). “We’re all faced with the same challenges. You never know when you are going to need your brothers and sisters.”
Diana Michael, BEA spokesperson, said, “It feels good to have the support of your neighboring school districts.”
Garofalo said teachers were “impressed” with Tallarico’s visit: “We were impressed that they (PSEA) think highly enough of us to visit and go to all the schools.”