Belle Vernon Area teachers issue strike notice over unresolved contract

Belle Vernon Area teachers put the district on notice that they intend to strike beginning March 13 if officials haven’t agreed on a new labor contract by then.

According to President Daneen Watson, a Spanish teacher with 20 years of service, the Belle Vernon Area Education Association has been in talks with the district on a proposed new five-year contract since January 2019. Its 159 members, including teachers and education specialists, are working under the terms of their previous five-year agreement, which expired June 30.

Watson indicated the strike notification was precipitated by the district canceling a Feb. 26 negotiating session, a move she called an act of “gamesmanship.”

She questioned the school board’s commitment to resolving the contract talks, indicating district representatives came to previous sessions without being sufficiently prepared for negotiations. She said the union negotiators have “made significant concessions in a number of areas and have met the board on issues that were of importance to them.”

“It’s not that the two sides are very far apart at all,” Watson said. She said there are five remaining issues to be settled but declined to elaborate.

Solicitor Ira Weiss, who is heading negotiations for the district, would say only that the remaining issues are all related to financial matters.

“We’re prepared to try to resolve them all and avoid this disruption for the students and the families of the district,” Weiss said.

He said the Feb. 26 talks were canceled because school board members “needed additional time to go over financial information dealing with the bargaining.

“The last two contracts the district had were extremely financially challenging for the district. This board has many new members since then and is proceeding very carefully so they do not over-commit the district to things they cannot afford.”

He said the district set the next contract talks for March 17, when a state mediator is expected to attend. Since the union has issued the March 13 deadline, Weiss said, it’s likely that a new date for talks will be scheduled before then.

Watson said the union had not received confirmation of the March 17 date. “We are definitely ready and willing to negotiate at any time,” she said.

She confirmed that, along with the strike notice, the union gave notice that its members will no longer be handling any duties beyond their contractual obligation — meaning they won’t participate in any after-hours programs except for coaching athletes and assisting theatrical productions.

Programs that could be affected include tutoring sessions and scheduled field trips to Washington, D.C., and New York City, according to Weiss.

In 2016, teachers at Greensburg Salem School District reached a new labor agreement with the district hours before a strike was set to begin.