Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

EAST PROVIDENCE _The state Labor Relations Board will hold a formal hearing on whether the East Providence School Committee violated Rhode Island labor law by insisting on public negotiations as a prior condition for collective bargaining.
The charge was filed in early December by the teachers' union, the East Providence Education Association.
Yesterday, the Board confirmed that it has issued its own complaint, which says that the insistence on public talks resulted in "mere surface bargaining," a violation of the duty to bargain in good faith".
The Board's complaint is not a finding but its own statement of the issue which will go to a formal hearing, according to the Board administrator, Robyn Golden. The hearing will be Aug. 25.
The union has a separate charge pending before the Labor Relations Board over the School Committee's unilateral decision to cut teachers' pay and impose employee contributions to the cost of health insurance premiums, effective Jan. 16.
The Labor Relations Board is expected to discuss the latter issue tomorrow to determine whether to go forward, according to Golden.
Val Lawson, president of the teachers' union, said in a statement that "the committee's refusal to engage in good faith bargaining has created the ongoing controversy.
"It is my hope that the School Committee and the City Council will reevaluate their actions and seek an equitable solution to the fiscal problems in East Providence," Lawson said.
Meanwhile, union lawyers lost a recent bid to the courts to stay the salary reductions temporarily until the complaint about the unilateral action can be taken up by the Labor Relations Board.
In court, the lawyers expressed hope that the matter might be heard by the Board in March.

 Tags  East Providence teachers' union

Comments

cindy said:

If I have been at a place of business since the time it opened (10 yrs) and they decide to lay me off instead of an employee that has only been there a yearm making lots less money and is a felon on top of that, can they do that?

Link | March 24, 2009 7:00 PM
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