FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SAN MATEO – Stunned by the school board's recent refusal to approve the collective bargaining agreement it had reached with teachers, Jim Remington, president of the San Mateo Elementary Teachers Association (SMETA), is urging the district to go back and approve the contract both sides had agreed to in May.
"We believe a deal is a deal. This was a deal that our teachers voted on and everyone had agreed to. Now the district needs to live up to the terms of that agreement," Remington said.
Remington was flabbergasted by the board's action on July 22 to unilaterally implement changes in working conditions on the members of the 583-member teachers association that serves the cities of San Mateo and Foster City. In doing so, the board approved its own version of the contract, eliminating key health benefit contributions to retired employees it had approved during the Factfinding process a month earlier.
"That was the language that was accepted by both sides of the table," Remington said. "We believe it is only fair that the district honor that agreement to provide retiring teachers with the benefits they deserve."
Remington pointed to a letter sent Thursday to board President Jack Coyne by the teacher-appointed member of the three-member Factfinding Panel. Panel member Marty Kahn confirmed in his letter that the district had earlier agreed to the recommended retiree health benefits.
"The board should be honest with SMETA members and the San Mateo-Foster City community and clarify that it has, for whatever reason, rejected that part of the Factfinding Report, and has unilaterally reduced a health benefit that employees expected to receive in retirement."
Kahn also reacted to earlier remarks made by Coyne in a district news release that SMETA may have misunderstood or even deliberately deceived the board regarding the agreement.
As a member of the Factfinding Panel, I saw no miscommunication, mistake or misunderstanding, and if there was any deliberate deception as you suggest in your press release, such deception belongs only to the Board's representatives," Kahn said.
SMETA, in the meantime, has asked CTA Legal Counsel to look into appropriate legal action.
Contact: Jim Remington, president San Mateo Elementary Teachers Association at 650-342-0852