WHEN is Less MORE?

ROBERTS OKS 10% PAY CUT AT DPS

Union contract change the 1st under new manager law

By CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER

   A month after warning union workers that they would see a 10% wage cut next school year, Roy Roberts, the emergency manager for Detroit Public Schools, signed executive orders Friday that impose $81 million in wage concessions on workers starting in August.

   Union leaders called the new law an attempt to bust public unions and pledged to fight for their contracts in court.

   “I’m not taking this lying down,” said Keith Johnson, president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers.

   All 10,000 workers in the district — union and nonunion, including Roberts — will see a 10% cut in their paychecks starting Aug. 23. They will begin to pay 20% of health care benefits costs Sept. 1.

   The decision marks the first time that Public Act 4 of 2011 — the new emergency manager law — has been used to modify school employee collective bargaining agreements.

   The contract modifications and concessions are part of an effort to eliminate the district’s $327-million deficit, Roberts said in a written statement.

   “The No.1 priority is providing the children of Detroit Public Schools with a quality education. For that to happen, the school district must be financially sound,” he said.

   On Thursday, state Treasurer Andy Dillon gave Roberts the required permission to go ahead with the cuts. Gov. Rick Snyder, who appointed Roberts in May to run DPS, also expressed support for the decision.

Impasse cited in changes at DPS

Union plans to sue, says negotiation efforts lacking

By CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER

   The state’s controversial emergency manager law is being used to impose cuts on Detroit Public Schools unions partly because of a negotiations impasse with workers, officials said Friday.

   DPS emergency manager Roy Roberts decided to modify the eight unions’ contracts after 45 meet-and-confer sessions with labor representatives, according to a statement released by DPS.

   However, union leaders said there were no real efforts to negotiate.

   “There was really no impasse because there was no back-and-forth,” said Keith Johnson, president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers. “We were told, ‘I’ll get back to you.’ ”

   Johnson promised to file suit against the district in connection with an executive order Roberts signed Friday that modifies union contracts to help get $81.8 million in savings.

   As a result, all 10,000 workers in the district — union and nonunion — will see a 10% cut in their paychecks on Aug. 23 and will begin to pay 20% of health care benefits costs Sept. 1.

   The decision marks the first time that the state’s new emergency manager law — Local Government and School District Fiscal Accountability Act, Public Act 4 of 2011 — has been used to modify collective bargaining agreements for school employees.

   The contract modifications are part of the effort to eliminate the district’s $327-million deficit, Roberts said.

   “We are in an extremely difficult financial period for Detroit Public Schools, requiring extreme measures,” Roberts said in a written statement.

   On Thursday, state Treasurer Andy Dillon gave Roberts permission to modify the union contracts. Dillon’s approval was required by law. Gov. Rick Snyder also supported the modification to the union contracts.

   In an e-mail Friday, Geralyn Lasher, a spokeswoman for Snyder, stressed the importance of providing DPS students a quality education and making the district financially sound.

   Ruby Newbold, president of the DPS secretaries union and the DPS Coalition of Unions, said, “Roberts is doing what he was sent here to do.”

   Unions agreed to millions in cuts, furlough days and concessions last year, and further cuts won’t bring DPS out of the red, she said.

   “There’s no way they can reduce the deficit with our salaries,” she said.

   The imposed concessions will take the place of previous concessions. Teachers will no longer have to defer $250 per paycheck for the Termination Incentive Plan that has helped address the district’s cash flow problems. Other cuts announced Friday will suspend teachers union bonuses, sick leave payouts and other measures.

   The wage and benefits concessions will affect everyone from teachers to principals and executive staff. Roberts’ $250,000-a-year salary is paid by the district and will also be subject to the 10% cut.

   Public Act 4 of 2011 allows the state-appointed emergency manager to modify or terminate a union contract after meeting and conferring with union representatives. Last month, when Roberts released the 2011-12 budget, he announced that he intended to impose the cuts.

   By law, the contract modifications will last until the state declaration of fiscal emergency in DPS is revoked.

   The lowest paid union workers will now earn at or near minimum wage, said Keith January, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 345, which represents about 1,400 DPS food service workers, technicians and bus attendants. The average worker in the union earns about $20,000 a year, January said.

   “These are the parents of the children in DPS that are being devastated,” he said.

   Union workers are part of a petition drive to repeal the emergency manager law through a ballot initiative.

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ANDRE J. JACKSON/Detroit Free Press

   Roy Roberts’ $250,000 a year salary also will see a10% cut.