By KATHERINE PETERSEN
With a fact-finding panel preparing to submit its recommendation to resolve a contract dispute that has been stalled for more than a year, the high school teachers' union has stepped up its threat to go on strike.
"We want to alert the public to the growing crisis in the Fremont Union High School District because there is such a rift between the board and the teachers," said Fremont Education Association President George Gredassoff.
The FEA has taken out an ad in this week's edition of The Courier urging the public to contact board members in support of the teachers.
"I find the timing of the ad puzzling given the commitment the FEA leadership has given to the fact-finding process," said school board president Randy Okamura.
The union is asking for a 10.5 percent salary increase and fully paid benefits for the duration of a one-year contract. The district's last offer contained a 7.05 percent increase in salary.
The preliminary results of a poll of the union's members show that teachers are leaning in the direction of supporting a strike, Gredassoff said. Teachers began picketing school sites on Tuesdays and Fridays at 7 a.m. three weeks ago, he added.
The union cannot take any action until the fact-finding process currently under way is completed. The three-member panel--which includes one member chosen by the district, one by the union and one agreed upon by both parties--will submit a report to the school board with recommendations on each issue under negotiation, such as medical and retirement benefits and salary increases. No date has been set for the report's release.
Once the report is submitted, the board has 10 days to act. At that point the report becomes a public document, said Bebe Sellers, the district's head negotiator. The panel has met off and on for more than two weeks since each side presented its case.
The chance of a strike if the panel's results are "unacceptable" stands at about 75 percent, Gredassoff said.
"Money and benefits are still the major sticking points until I hear something different," he said.
While Okamura conceded that a strike could occur, he is focusing his energy toward resolving the issues at hand.
"If we have to be flexible and creative in doing that, that's what we do. I'm putting faith in the fact-finding panel that's been meeting for the past two weeks," he said.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, April 2, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.