Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Labor Negotiations topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Teachers and unions press Marysville Joint Unified board over bargaining impasse and safety language ahead of December mediation
Summary
Union representatives and classified staff told the board the district has declared impasse in bargaining and that mediation is scheduled for Dec. 4; speakers pressed the board on safety contract language, pay increases tied to cost-of-living figures, and what they called excessive district spending.
Union representatives and employee stewards used public comment at the Marysville Joint Unified School District board meeting to press the board over stalled contract talks and worker safety, saying the district has declared impasse and mediation is set for Dec. 4.
A steward for Operating Engineers Local 3, Ruda Nelson, told trustees the union represents more than 400 classified workers and said members are "tired" after long negotiations and rising costs. "We have been patient. We have been quiet and sometimes too complacent, and we are tired," Nelson said, urging the board to "look at the facts and please just do what's right." (Ruda Nelson, Operating Engineers Local 3 steward.)
Speakers across multiple bargaining units complained that promised cost-of-living adjustments do not keep pace with rising health insurance premiums and cost-of-living increases. One union speaker asked the board to honor an 8.22% COLA figure cited earlier in testimony as a state benchmark for consumer costs; speakers compared recent settlements in neighboring districts and said Marysville staff deserve similar adjustments.
Public commenters also accused the district of spending heavily on outside legal fees, public-relations support and administrative positions while bargaining languishes. Those allegations were raised in unsworn public comment by a union representative and echoed by other speakers; district staff did not provide a direct rebuttal to those specific itemized figures during public comment.
Board business during the meeting included a routine approval of initial bargaining proposals (the "sunshine" packet) to begin formal negotiations. Trustees voted to approve the public disclosure of initial proposals to the California School Employees Association and other represented groups, moving the formal negotiations process forward.
Neither the board nor district administration offered an immediate schedule of additional public briefings on bargaining. Mediation between the district and the unions was reported in comments as scheduled for Dec. 4; the district and union negotiators will determine the scope of mediation at that session.
What happens next: The district and bargaining units will move into mediation; the board received public input asking for clearer accounting of central-office spending and for stronger safety language in negotiated contracts.
