Union leaders and an unruly crowd hassled school board members Tuesday when the board voted down a negotiated contract that affects more than 250 employees.
The surprising outcome came after one board member said that the raises in the final contract presented to him were not the same as what he had agreed to during negotiations just weeks earlier.
The Board of Education has been in contract negotiations with the union representing the teachers, clerks, technicians, and transportation employees going back to last year.
This was actually the second contract to fail. An original contract was nullified this past spring after board members took control of negotiation from Superintendent Jack Raslowsky. At the time, they claimed the contract was too generous and that the board members were left in the dark during negotiations.
Before Tuesday’s meeting, board members and teachers had agreed to the terms of a second three-year contract – negotiated by board members Frank Raia, Anthony Romano, Phil DeFalco, and Carmelo Garcia – and signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA).
Also before the meeting, almost 90 percent of the union members had voted to agree to the terms of the contract.
But Tuesday night, there were not enough board votes to pass it.
“The motion fails 4-4-1,” said Board secretary David Anthony at the meeting. “Back to the drawing board.”
DeFalco: ‘Not what I agreed to’
Board members Carrie Gilliard, Rose Markle, Theresa Minutillo, and DeFalco voted against the second contract, with board member Jim Farina abstaining because his wife works as a school clerk. Therefore, the contract did not get the required five votes needed to pass it.
DeFalco, who had sat in on negotiations, said at the meeting, “What we have in front of us to vote on, is not what I – we – agreed to.”
A few dozen members of the union in the audience booed and heckled DeFalco, as they did when Minutillo started to explain her vote, the fourth and final vote against the measure.
DeFalco said in an interview Wednesday that the increase in pay rates was “significantly higher” than what was negotiated before the MOA was signed.
Several board members also said that the contract was incomplete, missing certain information used to understand pay grades.
Against his political allies
DeFalco’s vote was something of a surprise for those who follow politics, since he was elected in April on a ticket that was encouraged by Raslowsky and members of the teachers’ union.
Some audience members yelled out “Kids First,” the name of the opposing election ticket, after DeFalco cast his vote.
“My responsibility is to the kids, teachers, and the taxpayer,” DeFalco said in an interview on Wednesday. “They should get a raise. They deserve it, the school system is improving. But my word is my word, and that’s not what I agreed to.”
Fighting for contract
Raia, Romano, and Garcia all sat in on negotiations, and supported the contract Tuesday night. They and Board President Frances Rhodes-Kearns drew plenty of applause.
Rhodes-Kearns said the proposed pay raise is within this year’s budget, to which Business Administrator Brian Buckley agreed. But DeFalco explained on Wednesday that an overpayment by percentage over three years compounds the problem every year, meaning it grows worse.
No one at the meeting addressed the impact this contract would have on future budgets.
“Language issues in the contract, in good faith, can be remedied,” Garcia said during the meeting. “This should not be put on hold for filibuster reasons or obstructionist reasons.”
DeFalco had seen the contract the previous Friday and tried to have it removed from the agenda until it could be revised, he said.
“My word is my word, and that’s not what I agreed to.”
– Phil DeFalco
________
Some board members believe that DeFalco was being put to the test to see if he would change his vote during the meeting when the pressure was on.
Riling up the crowd
Garcia, Raia, and Romano all gave rousing speeches touting the merits of the contract givebacks, saying their contract was more beneficial to the public than the one Raslowsky had negotiated.
The new contract also – in its negotiated form – had a lower percentage raise for the union workers that the original.
Union President and Hoboken High School teacher Gary Enrico riled up the crowd to the point that police were called to the premises.
“Four people on this board voted no to the children of Hoboken,” Enrico said. “You said you made a mistake on the memorandum. We gave you a do-over.”
“You should be embarrassed to be on the Board of Ed,” he added. “We will be back… You will be hearing from us, believe it.”
DeFalco tried to address the crowd before they left, but they refused to listen.
Enrico interjected with a quote from Martin Luther King.
DeFalco said later that he was smiling at the yelling crowd not to incite them, but because Enrico was “grandstanding.” However, the crowd took umbrage to his facial expressions and berated him.
“They slapped us in the face,” Enrico said as he left.
Union members reconvened in the Wallace School cafeteria to discuss possible methods of recourse while the meeting continued. A police officer arrived just as they were leaving. An attorney for the union advised the workers to settle the issue with another trip to the negotiation table.
Raslowsky wouldn’t confirm after the meeting that he was the one who called the police, but he said, “It’s always wise to have crowd control.”
Enrico said in an interview last week that the discrepancy in the recent contract was a “miscommunication” and that he was ready to sit back down with the Negotiation Committee, including DeFalco.
DeFalco said he was not casting any accusations about the wrong numbers being intentional, just that an increase in percentage affects the overall payroll of the school district, especially when it is compounded over the length of a three-year contract.
The schools will still have to negotiate contracts with the administrators’ and custodial/maintenance workers’ unions following this deal. The raises that the teachers get could affect negotiations for the other contracts.
Signed, sealed, delivered?
Joseph Morano, legal counsel for the schools, had previously said that the board member’s signature on the Memorandum of Agreement meant that the person had to vote in favor of the contract at the board meeting.
But last week, Morano said that if a board member believed the negotiated terms of the contract were not presented correctly in the actual contract, then that person could vote the measure down, as DeFalco did.
For questions or comments on this story, e-mail tcarroll@hudsonreporter.com.