At a special meeting Thursday night, the committee unanimously backed a new agreement with the union that represents cafeteria workers, paraprofessionals, secretaries, and bus drivers in the Pittsfield Public Schools.
“The members of the negotiating team, and I think I'm speaking for the entire school committee here, are extremely gratified that we have been able to reach agreements with these four employee groups. We're hopeful that the fifth employee group represented by the Federation, the custodial employees, that we will, in short order, have new contract with them as well," said committee chair Dr. William Cameron. “We've recognized part partly through the urging of the employees and partly through the realities of the employment market, that we are making major salary concessions- Not concessions, major salary agreements here, major increases in the compensation paid to the members of these units, and that we're doing so gladly.”
Under the new contracts, hourly base pay for paraprofessionals, bus drivers, and cafeteria workers will rise by 50 cents annually for the next three years, while secretaries will receive a 2% increase in hourly pay during the same timeframe. For example, paraprofessionals’ base compensation will jump from around $11 an hour under the 2020-2021 contract to $16 an hour under the new 2021-2022 contract. By the 2024-2025 school year, that will climb up to $17.50.
“We've had we've had some difficult negotiations over the past 12 months, 12 and a half months, and some of those difficulties were aired in public or were criticized in public," continued Cameron. "And I'm delighted that we have been able, at this point, to reach agreements that will not only benefit our employees going forward, but that will also benefit the employees whom we've reached the settlements with retrospectively, or retroactively.”
The new agreement for the 2021-2022 contracts means that union employees who worked through the months of negotiations will get back pay.
“I think that that's fair for people who have continued to work for us through those difficult negotiations," said Cameron. "I think that employees who have retired during the period in question, or who worked through the end of the end of the year, are entitled to retroactive pay. The committee certainly agrees with that, and we believe that the substantial increases that these memoranda incorporate will go a long way toward helping our employees financially.”
A huge portion of Pittsfield’s annual spending is on education. Over $72 million of the total $188 million operating budget is dedicated to the public school system in fiscal year 2023.
“I also want to express my hope that in very short order we will have reached an amicable agreement with the with the custodial personnel so that all of the members of the of the Pittsfield Federation of School Employees will have new contracts, improved working conditions, and considerably better pay,” said Cameron.
