HERMITAGE STRIKE Union rep discusses issue of wages

Work on the high school renovation and expansion project resumed despite the strike.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- The wage increase offered by the Hermitage School Board to its teachers is less than the average increase granted teachers across Mercer County, says a state teachers union representative.
The school board is offering a $1,600 average increase to the district's 165 teachers in each year of a three-year contract proposal that would be retroactive to July 1.
The teachers are seeking a $2,700 annual average increase and went on strike Thursday after a bargaining session Tuesday failed to resolve their dispute.
About the offer: Marcus Schlegel, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the union representing Hermitage teachers, said the board's offer is more than $200 below the average wage increase given in the 11 other public school districts in the county this year.
Schlegel said PSEA statistics show the average increase in the county this year was $1,804, or 3.9 percent.
The Hermitage School Board offer was about 3.3 percent, school officials said.
Schlegel said the average increase in contracts in place for 2002-03 is $1,815 or 3.8 percent, and, for 2003-04, $1,847, a 3.8-percent gain.
The Hermitage School Board offer would be about 3 percent in the second and third years of its proposal.
The teachers and school board negotiating teams are to meet at 7 tonight, the first bargaining session since the strike began.
Construction work: Work on the $24 million renovation and expansion of Hickory High School, which was stopped when union construction workers refused to cross the picket line Thursday and Friday, resumed today.
Most of the work is done and workers are concentrating on the new auditorium at this point.
School officials had pressured contractors to get their people back on the job, noting that the project is to be finished by the end of April. Union carpenters were on the job before 7:30 a.m. today.
Paul Estock, chief negotiator for the teachers, said the pickets wouldn't try to stop anyone from entering school property.
Teachers' view: Hermitage teachers said their wage demand isn't set in stone.
"We've always been willing to move," Estock said. "We hope this meeting means they're ready to move, too."
That may not happen.
"We're meeting in response to their request to meet with us," said Duane Piccirilli, school board president. "We've given them our best offer. Now, we want their best offer."
The strike entered its third day today and will end Friday, the Pennsylvania Department of Education says.
State law governing teacher negotiations mandates that school districts must be able to complete 180 days of classroom instruction by June 15. The state has the authority to force teachers back into the classroom to ensure that instructional time is met.
Because June 15 falls on a Saturday, the 180 days must be completed as of June 14 and that means the strike must end Friday.
gwin@vindy.com