St. Lucie County, Florida is becoming another example of the hope offered in mediation despite extreme budget cuts awaiting the district.  For the St. Lucie County district, those cuts are to the tune of $26.5 million, which has prompted the teacher’s union to agree to mediation. 

According to Vicki Rodriguez, "There's a benefit to both the union and the district to come to mediation with the intent to try and resolve at least some of the concerns and the issues that are on the table." Rodriguez serves as vice president of the St. Lucie Classroom Teachers Association and Classified Unit, and is hopeful that the mediation process will be a fruitful one for both sides. 

Both the union and the district officials have been at odds since mid-December over issues such as salaries and benefits for teachers, although contract negotiations have been going on since June of 2012.  These negotiations saw a return to collective bargaining procedures, which finally reached a stand-still in late November of last year when both sides reached an impasse over how to continue. 

The mediator brought in to help the district is Gilbert Escudero, a mediator with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.  The service is provided free of charge by the federal agency.  While the session will be closed to the public, there will be parts of it that allow public access—primarily, when the mediator is giving instructions to both sides regarding how to work together during the mediation process. 

However, both sides are in for a monumental task, as the district is forced to cut approximately $17 million dollars in expenses next year in order to achieve a balanced budget.  In order to do this, the district’s officials have proposed reducing contribution to employee health insurance policies by 10% in 2013, and then an additional 10% in 2014, providing a $6.6 million total cost savings for the district in the next two years.