School Employees Wages And Salaries

Negotiators for about 800 non-teaching employees who are locked in a contract dispute with the Anaheim City School District say they will continue to picket meetings of the Board of Education until a state mediator arrives next month. At issue are this year's pay increases: The district has offered the employees a 6% raise and the employees are holding out for 7%.

School custodians, nurses, cafeteria workers and other non-teaching employees of the Irvine Unified School District received a 10% raise this year, and those working 30 hours a week or more will be entitled to health and welfare benefits under a contract ratified this week by the school board. Teachers and administrators received similar raises before the holidays as more cash was made available for salaries and benefits, board member Margie Wakeham said.

The union that represents Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District's 875 classified employees is suing the district for overtime pay for working two days union officials say were national holidays. The disputed days occurred in April, 1991, following the end of the Persian Gulf War.

Negotiators for the Los Angeles Unified School District and the union representing 38,000 classified workers, including bus drivers, cafeteria employees and classroom aides, have tentatively agreed to a contract providing a nearly 15% pay raise over two years. A larger boost--as much as 20% for some of the lowest paid--would be given to the half of the union's members who currently receive less than the county living wage.

Anticipating deep cuts in state funding, the UC Board of Regents on Friday authorized incentives for early retirement of senior faculty and staff and asked all other employees to voluntarily cut back their working hours and salary as much as 25%. William B. Baker, UC vice president for budget and university relations, said the staff-trimming moves are needed even though Gov. Pete Wilson and legislators are debating how to slash spending, including funding for the university system.

After five months of wrangling, the Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday formally reopened wage negotiations with school district employees by offering a pay raise of slightly more than 1%, according to sources.

Seeking to close a projected $13.1-million budget gap before June 30, the Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees considered several options Saturday, including two-week unpaid furloughs for district employees, which would make up about $8 million of the shortfall. The trustees, meeting in a special session at Southwest College, took no action but will take up the issue again Wednesday.

Labor unions representing employees of the Los Angeles Community College District have refused a plea to reopen contract talks with the cash-strapped district, saying they were not to blame for its projected $13.1 million deficit. "We did not create the deficit," said Yvonne Owens, president of the Staff Guild at a board of trustees meeting Wednesday. "We were in negotiations 1 1/2 years to get a settlement. To ask now to reopen, we just wouldn't."

Los Angeles school employees stepped up their demands for a raise Tuesday, producing a budget analysis that identifies money to increase salaries while still leaving enough to pay for new services such as libraries and tutoring. Facing some criticism of their request for a 4% increase on top of the 2% that they have received this year, the seven unions that represent the district's 75,000 employees took a united stand to press their case.

The Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday rejected school employees' request to begin talks on a pay increase, voting instead to come back with its own proposal that would tie any raise to accountability measures. During a five-hour closed session, the board instructed Supt. Ruben Zacarias to prepare an opening proposal by the Oct. 27 board meeting.

The Coast Community College District board of trustees approved one of the largest pay raises ever for a segment of its employees. The employees, who include educators, administrators, supervisors, maintenance and operations workers and employees of KOCE, the district-run public television station in Huntington Beach, were granted a 6.5% increase for the 2000-01 year. That increase is a combination of a 4.17% cost-of-living raise approved this month by Gov. Gray Davis, a 1.

Irvine Unified trustees this week approved 2.5% salary increases for members of the California School Employees Assn. and the Irvine Administrators Assn. The increases and other benefits, which are retroactive to July 1, 1998, will cost the district an estimated $1.26 million over three years, according to staff reports.

Teachers in the Tustin Unified School District had reason to smile Monday night as the school board unanimously approved a 4% salary increase, retroactive to July 1, 1998, for all certified and classified employees.

After five months of wrangling, the Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday formally reopened wage negotiations with school district employees by offering a pay raise of slightly more than 1%, according to sources.

The Los Angeles Board of Education agreed Tuesday to hold talks on a pay raise for school district employees, but left unresolved how to pay for it. Over the next few days, the district and the unions will consult with an outside accounting firm in search of unused funds in the $6.6-billion budget that could be applied to a raise. In the meantime, the board has reserved a decision on about $37 million worth of school programs sought by Supt.

School board members recently approved a tentative 4% pay raise for teachers and administrators in the Garden Grove Unified School District, district spokesman Alan Trudell said. The raises for more than 2,000 teachers, nurses and librarians will be retroactive to Sept. 1. School counselors, psychologists, bus drivers and custodians will receive 4% retroactive raises to July 21. The district reached a pay raise agreement with the Garden Grove Pupil Personnel Services Assn.

Negotiators for the Los Angeles Unified School District and the union representing 38,000 classified workers, including bus drivers, cafeteria employees and classroom aides, have tentatively agreed to a contract providing a nearly 15% pay raise over two years. A larger boost--as much as 20% for some of the lowest paid--would be given to the half of the union's members who currently receive less than the county living wage.

The Coast Community College District board of trustees approved one of the largest pay raises ever for a segment of its employees. The employees, who include educators, administrators, supervisors, maintenance and operations workers and employees of KOCE, the district-run public television station in Huntington Beach, were granted a 6.5% increase for the 2000-01 year. That increase is a combination of a 4.17% cost-of-living raise approved this month by Gov. Gray Davis, a 1.

The Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday rejected school employees' request to begin talks on a pay increase, voting instead to come back with its own proposal that would tie any raise to accountability measures. During a five-hour closed session, the board instructed Supt. Ruben Zacarias to prepare an opening proposal by the Oct. 27 board meeting.