Dist. 211 union may strike

Teacher salary negotiations have stalled in Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 and a federal mediator has been requested to break the impasse.

"(A strike) is a possibility. That is an option," union President John Braglia said. "We've got a very unhappy and disgusted membership right now."

Teachers at the district's five high schools are in the final year of a three-year pact signed in 2005. A provision allowed for the two sides to reopen salary talks in the third year.

The two sides have been negotiating since January, but after the board submitted an offer in August, talks have hit an impasse.

There's no timetable for when the mediator would arrive or talks would resume.

Braglia said the District 211 administration proposed a 3.4 percent increase in teacher pay, while the union sought 4.25 percent.

Superintendent Roger Thornton would not confirm those figures but said talks were still progressing well.

District 211 teachers received a 2.25 percent hike the first year of the current contract, and a 2 percent increase in 2006-07, plus step increases for years of added experience. The third year of the contract does not include a raise, Braglia said.

He said teachers accepted small raises in the previous years of the contract and now deserve to be compensated on the same scale as similar school districts. He points to concessions, including to teachers agreeing to pay more for their health care.

The union represents about 1,100 people in the state's largest high school district. The average teacher salary in District 211, according to the 2006 Illinois School Report Card, is $84,185.

School officials say a fair proposal has been submitted. Like their union counterparts, administrators are rooting for a quick resolution.

"I think we have made good progress and continue to make good progress," Thornton said.

Other school districts set salary precedents, Braglia said. Teachers in Northwest Suburban High School District 214 will see a 4.25 percent salary hike for this school year and 3.75 percent for next year.

"We're not asking to break the bank," Braglia said.

Thornton would not address the offer's specifics and added that it's "dangerous" for a district to offer raises above the consumer price index, the inflation gauge projected next year at 2.5 percent.

"Those are the guidelines we had assumed school districts in the area would need to follow," he said.

While the district should be mindful of the price index, Braglia said District 211 is in good position to pay the requested pay increase, especially after voters approved a tax-rate increase in 2005.

Braglia wouldn't single out anybody, but said the salary offer is indicative of broken campaign promises school board members have made to get elected through the years.

He said the teachers have kept their side of the bargain and expect to be rewarded.

Increased class sizes and cutting of "signature programs" are examples of those broken promises, Braglia said.