The Glendale Teachers Association and Glendale Unified School District have reached a tentative agreement on a contract for the 2020-23 school years after yearlong negotiations between the two parties.
The contract for the school years going back to the COVID-19 pandemic was reached on Feb. 28 and outlines salaries, benefits, rights and working conditions for teachers.
The last bargaining agreement was effective July 2017 and expired in June 2020 — during the height of the pandemic. Following the delay of a new contractual agreement for the 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years, 13 unsuccessful negotiation sessions beginning in January 2022 led to an “impasse” stage where a state-appointed mediator from the Public Employment Relations Board helped negotiate a contractual agreement.
“Glendale Unified proudly offers competitive wages, health benefits and professional growth opportunities for our highly valued educators and certificated employees,” Glendale Unified Board of Education President Nayiri Nahabedian said in a statement.
“I want to thank everyone whose hard work led to this tentative agreement, which gives our educators an important raise while keeping our commitment to maximize academic achievement for every child and maintain district financial responsibility,” Nahabedian said.
Some aspects of the agreement are three separate compensation increases for GTA members — a 4.5% one-time compensation increase for the 2020-21 school year, a 3.5% ongoing raise retroactive to the 2021-22 school year, and a 5% ongoing raise in the current 2022-23 school year, according to GUSD.
The contract also outlines a benefits package valued at more than $34,000 per year per employee, and several stipend and hourly rate increases for some educators such as special education providers, assistants to the principal, professional development instructors and others, according to the school district.
“The tentative agreement reflects our association’s commitment toward promoting the well-being of our students and our educators,” GTA President Chris Davis said in a statement to the Glendale News-Press.
“Our association had been asking for a fair wage settlement that was not predicated on contractual changes. With the exception of the issue of guaranteed daily preparation/conference time for secondary educators, the district ultimately dropped conditions attached to the wage agreement,” he said.
Prior to the contractual agreement, both GUSD and GTA were close to agreeing on wage stipulations; however, one of the biggest points of contention remained around the classroom preparation time being allotted to secondary teachers and whether that time should be scheduled on a daily or condensed weekly basis.
“Changes agreed to surrounding guaranteed daily prep time for secondary teachers are part of a memorandum of understanding with a time limit attached to it rather than language changes to the contract itself,” Davis said.
According to the GUSD press statement, next steps include GTA members voting on the agreement which will then submitted to the board of education for approval.
Davis said that the GTA Board of Directors will hold a meeting for members on March 7 and will hold a ratification vote from March 8-10. The teacher’s union represents more than 1,250 full-time and part-time GUSD teachers.
The settlement on the bargaining agreement comes as the delayed contract spurred talks of union members going on strike earlier this year. On Jan. 17, GTA and advocates held a rally at the school district offices to show support for teachers and their demands. Employees, parents and children walked around the block and encouraged cars to honk in support — some teachers attended and raised signs that read “I don’t want to strike, but I will.”
“Our board of education, district leadership, administrators, educators and staff are unified in our commitment to an equity-focused agenda that gives our students voice and choice in their academic endeavors,” GUSD Superintendent Vivian Ekchian said.
“I am pleased that we have come to a tentative agreement that competitively compensates our GTA employees for the hard work they do every day.”
