Ocean Twp. teachers work without contract Educators' association and Board of Ed. disagree on health-care premiums BY DANIEL HOWLEY Staff Writer Disputes over the cost of health-care benefits have left employees of the Ocean Township school system working without a contract since June. School district employees are seeking the reinstatement of a prior contract clause stating that once employees reach tenured status, they no longer have to pay their health-care premiums. "We are deadlocked over high healthinsurance premiums," said Gary Bahr, an industrial arts teacher at Ocean Township High School. Bahr is also the negotiations chair of the Township of Ocean Educators Associations (TOEA), which comprises all teachers, secretaries and maintenance workers in the district. If negotiations remain unresolved, the New Jersey Department of Education (DOE) will step in to assist both parties in agreeing on a contract, according to Marc Abramson of the New Jersey Educators Association. Abramson is representing the district employees in their negotiations. An exploratory mediation session for both sides is scheduled for the Nov. 29 board meeting, which will allow both sides to explain their cases to a state-appointed fact-finder. If an agreement is not reached, a factfinding hearing will be scheduled to allow the educators association and the board to offer testimony and evidence to support their positions, Abramson explained. The board and the educators association will then have 20 days to reach an agreement before a representative from the DOE will step in to hold meetings 24 hours a day until a voluntary settlement is reached, according to Abramson. Superintendent of Schools Thomas Pagano said that by having new employees pay 10 percent of the cost of their health-care benefits, the district will save money. "Having new hires pay into their healthcare benefits will help control budget costs," Pagano said. Pagano added that the district could save a projected $326,277 annually if employees continue to pay a health-care benefits premium. The disagreement between the board and the educators association stems from a 1998 to 2001 contract that stated that new hires in the district are required to pay 10 percent of the difference between an individual health plan and a family health plan, according to Bill Wishart, president of the TOEA and a science teacher at the high school. However, a section of that contract also states that once an employee achieves tenure, which is a status gained after the person is employed in the district for three years, that employee no longer has to pay into his or her benefits, Wishart said. Those payments are then to be taken over by the Board of Education, according to Wishart. In the 2001 to 2004 contract, the section of the contract calling for employees to pay the difference between the two plans was removed, while the section regarding the 10 percent payments was still in place, Wishart explained. Without the section dealing with the plan differences, the contract called for all new employees to pay 10 percent of their respective plans. "We have about 30 signed statements from employees saying they were told [by then TOBE Business Administrator Carl Nordell] that the 10 percent payment was a misprint." According to Bahr, a verbal "gentlemen's agreement" was made during the 2004 to 2007 contract negotiations calling for the 10 percent premium to be terminated for new employees in a 2007 to 2010 contract. On Sept. 15, Wishart said that employees hired in 2004 had reached their tenured status and instead of receiving free health-care plans, the employees continued to see the 10 percent deduction in their paychecks. Pagano said no verbal agreement was ever made. "In a collective agreement including over 600 employees, there is no such thing as a gentlemen's agreement," Pagano said. "The master contract would have been amended, had there been an agreement like that," he added. Under the current 2004 to 2007 contract, all new employees hired after July 1, 2001, are to pay 10 percent of the total cost of their health-care benefits. There are 251 employees in the district, including teachers, secretaries and maintenance staff, who currently pay into their health-care costs. According to Wishart, the employees association is willing to accept salary cuts, rather than pay into their health-care plans, "We are willing to yield a great deal to get back our 10 percent," Wishart said. Health-care premiums are not the only point of contention between the two parties, according to Wishart. The Board of Education is also asking district employees to agree to a lengthened school day, which Wishart said is "unnecessary." "I come to work one hour before class starts, and see 20 other cars in the parking lot," Wishart said. "My wife, who is also a teacher in the district, sits in bed at night grading papers," he said. Pagano said that he feels a contract will be in place after the fact-finding. "The board remains confident that once the fact-finding is done, an agreement will be struck," he said. "There has been a lot of emotional rhetoric, but I am hopeful that this can be resolved so we can get on with the business of educating our students without distractions. "The board recognizes they have an obligation to not just the teachers but also to the taxpayers," Pagano stated, adding that the board "greatly respects the contributions our teachers have made to Ocean Township."