November 6 Strike Update

Tuesday morning updates on the aftermath of the proposal rejection. The Strike is expected to last through the legally determined deadline of November 16.

Post-Gazette: Seneca Valley strike goes on

The two-year proposal contained 10 points, which included a detailed explanation of salary increases. The teacher's union proposed a 4 percent increase on the base payroll for the 2005-06 school year, which is $30.8 million. That figure would be used to determine increases for 2006-07 and 2007-08. The teachers have said their proposal equals the district's "best offer" previously presented to the union.

However, the teachers also proposed that when teachers retire or resign from the district, the money that the district would realize in savings by hiring new personnel be distributed among the members of the teachers union.

Mr. King argued that because of the teachers' proposal to distribute additional savings each year among its staff members, the percentage increase actually ranged from 6.1 to 6.4 percent.

"If it really was 4 percent, they could come back to work tomorrow," he said.

"What they want us to do is say teacher A retires at $70,000 a year and her replacement comes in at $40,000 a year," he said. "They want us to take that $30,000 difference in salary and allow them to split it up among their remaining members. If we do that, it's not really 4 percent, it's closer to 6.4 percent."

Tribune-Review: Seneca board rejects proposal from teachers

The proposal, which was defeated by a vote of 8-0, was not an agreement on a new contract, but would have ended the strike, which is now in its fourth week. Board member Jeffrey Widdowson was absent.

"As of right now, it looks like we won't be back in school until next Friday," said Patrick Andrekovich, chief negotiator for the district's teachers.

"We offered them a 4 percent (salary) increase, which is what they said they wanted, and they voted no."

KDKA: Seneca Valley Board Rejects Teachers' Proposal (with video)

After six hours of negotiations, both sides reached tentative agreements on four minor economic issues. But salary and benefits remained a problem.