After three years of negotiations and a lengthy mediation attempt, the Berkeley Unified School District in California has announced that it considers the contract talks and the mediation process to be a failure.  It is turning the negotiations with the union that represents nearly 600 school employees over to a “fact-finding panel” despite the fact that only one major issue remains unresolved.

Salary and other sticking points have been settled over the lengthy negotiation with the Berkeley Council of Classified Employees union (BCCE), which represents office staff, custodians, librarians, cafeteria workers and bus drivers in Berkeley schools.  There are five unresolved issues, but the major one centers on how to handle involuntary transfers.  Despite being so close to an overall agreement, the mediator announced on July 29, 2014 that there was no point in continuing the mediation process, and referred the contract negotiation to a three-member panel.

Involuntary transfer involves the ability of the school board to transfer staff between schools as needed.  The union was willing to craft language regarding some of the staff and involuntary transfer, but the board was unwilling to consider compromise on the issue, seeing it as crucial to the proper management of the school system.

The complexity of the negotiations also stems from the merger of BCCE with another union in 2011, which necessitated the merging of two contracts.

The fact-finding panel will hear arguments from both sides and then make a settlement recommendation, which is not binding to either party.  The fact-finding process is not public, and the school district and union are free to continue their own negotiations while the panel is working.