The South Burlington, VT school board and its teachers’ union are in the midst of negotiating a renewed contract.   The two sides have met one time in mediation, but were unable to come to an agreement, despite an eight hour session. 

According to Kathy Murphy, Chief Negotiator for the South Burlington Educators’ Association, “It became really clear early on that they would not move off the imposed terms, the imposed working conditions, even with significant movement on our side, we were unable to get them to move off of those imposed terms”.

The board made an offer at the end of the first meeting, and a boar representative stated that they are willing to continue to talk, even after the offer.   However, the union has stated they are done. 

The mediation began after 10 months of negotiations between the two parties.   The teachers’ union has already rejected one offer.   According to a union representative, “Imposition of working conditions is unacceptable because it changes the game about how pay is distributed and how health care is decided without the consent of both sides and to seek equity in that and changing that fundamental principle is the problem we had.”

Union members and the school board were both reluctant to begin the new school year without a contract in place.   Both were concerned that leaving a contract open-ended made it difficult for creating an overall budget.   It also puts the board and the teachers, as well as the community, at a disadvantage.   Both sides are concerned that further negotiations with a mediator could still prove unsuccessful.