NEW CASTLE, PA. Cafeteria workers discuss wages

The school board president's brother was hired as head baseball coach.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Cafeteria workers in the New Castle Area School District say they just want a fair shake.
The 33 members of Teamsters Local 261 recently voted down a proposed contract. The sticking points are wages and a tier system for new employees proposed by the district.
Dave Greer, Teamster's 261 secretary and treasurer, asked city school board members to negotiate as a whole with the union rather than send one board member or an administrator.
"They deserve a lot of credit," Greer told the school board at Wednesday's meeting. "They are very, very good workers for this district. We just want to be treated fairly."
Sticking points
Assistant Superintendent Nick DeRosa said he handled most of the district's negotiations. He agrees with Greer that wages are the sticking point.
The district offered workers a five-year contract with a 50-cent-an-hour raise the first year and 45-cent-an-hour raises in the following years, Greer said.
The workers wanted 50-cent-a-year raises each year of the contract, he said. The district's personal care workers, who shadow students with disabilities and help teachers in special education classes, recently signed a contract with 50-cent per hour raises in each year of their contract, Greer noted.
He said workers also disagreed with the district's proposal to a second-tier pay scale for new hires that would pay them less than veteran workers.
The average cafeteria server, for example, now earns $8 an hour, he said.
The contract expired June 30. Greer said a strike has not been discussed among union members. He plans to meet with DeRosa on Friday about the contract. A state mediator has been working with both sides.
New baseball coach
In other business, the district has a new baseball coach, but not without some controversy.
Donald Runyon, who is the brother of school board President Lynn Padice, was given a three-year contract as head baseball coach. He will be paid $3,174 this year and $3,269 the following year. His salary for the last year of his contract has not been set yet, said Superintendent George Gabriel.
Board member Larry Nord asked the panel to table the action and let the new board coming in January vote on the matter. Padice's term expires in November, and she is not in the race for re-election.
Mark Elisco, an assistant principal in the district who sought the head coaching position, also asked the board to table the matter.
Elisco contends he had more experience than Runyon, but was not recommended by the board's athletic committee for the job.
"How could this not be a political appointment?" Elisco asked.
Nord's motion to table the vote was defeated, and Runyon was hired in a 6-2 vote. Padice abstained from voting. Nord and Andrea Przybylski voted against hiring Runyon.
Board decision
Allan Joseph, board member and chairman of the athletic committee, said four people, including Elisco and Runyon, were interviewed for the job.
Runyon was the unanimous choice of the five-member committee, made up of board members Joseph, Frank Bonfield, Peter Yerage, Joe Farris and David Dominick.
Joseph said all four contenders were qualified, but the committee liked Runyon's enthusiasm and the fact that he had worked with youngsters in the baseball program before.
Runyon was a volunteer assistant baseball coach last year. He also coaches ninth-grade football and is an assistant girls basketball coach in the district. He was hired in 1998 as a social studies teacher at Ben Franklin Junior High School.