To: APEA Membership
From: APEA Negotiations Team
Re: Negotiations Update
Date: March 13, 2009
We apologize for not updating you after our February 26th meeting; therefore, we will combine that update with our most recent meeting which was this past Tuesday, March 10th. At our February 26th meeting, we went through the district’s scatter gram. A scatter gram is a detailed list of how much money is in each unit, the amount of people in a particular step, and the total amount of money our units have combined. This is an accurate reporting of the district’s payroll expenditures. This is a very important part of negotiations, as it allows us to do research on how much money it will cost the district to move everyone through each guide. It will also give us a clearer picture of this district’s financial obligations to its employees.
At our March 10th meeting, we narrowed down the proposal to five points of discussion for that evening. Going through it point by point, there was no movement from either side to give in on certain items. Our team had the opportunity to caucus as a group about the issue of not moving forward. We will be meeting prior to our negotiations session scheduled for that evening to be better prepared for the discussions.
Our next meeting will be held on March 25th. Please note that negotiations are a slow and arduous process, especially given the state of the nationwide economic crisis. With this in mind, we will continue to move ahead and work to settle this contract in a timely manner. The positive note is the fact that our team is in tact after our recent APEA Executive Committee elections. This continuity is vital in negotiating our union contract.
Pc: Gena Proctor, Recording Secretary
Paul Murphy, Corresponding Secretary