P I T T S B U R G H   F E D E R A T I O N   O F   T E A C H E R S

An Update to PFT Members
Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Negotiations/Status Quo/Movement on Salary Schedule

As you know, the PFT negotiating team --- Rufus Jordan, Mary VanHorn, Sherman Shrager, Sylvia Wilson, George Gensure, Nina Esposito-Visgitis, Attorney Steve Jordan, and I --- agreed with the school district to continue status quo while negotiations take place through December 31, 2005. Status Quo, a provision of Act 195, means that all terms and conditions of the previous contract remain in place while the union and the district work to reach settlement on a new collective bargaining agreement.

Additionally, teachers and other professional employees who are eligible to receive salary increases because of movement on the salary schedule (to steps 2-10), TPI, longevity, or academic credits will receive those increases – beginning with the first paycheck of the 2005-06 school year – on Thursday, September 15, 2005.

Please note that paraprofessionals and technical-clerical personnel receive salary increases beginning with the September 15 paycheck.

If you are eligible to receive an increase, please check this pay especially carefully for accuracy. If you feel there is a discrepancy, notify your Building Representative or your PFT Staff Representative so that the issue can be addressed promptly. We are certain that the district’s calculations will be accurate, but if there are any problems, we want to address them immediately.

Finally, negotiations between the district and PFT-represented teachers in the Pittsburgh/Mt. Oliver Intermediate Unit #2 are continuing.

Mark Roosevelt Begins Work as PPS Superintendent

The issue of negotiating new collective bargaining agreements with the PFT is one of the several substantive challenges Mark Roosevelt, the district’s new superintendent, must address. It certainly is a top priority matter from the perspective of the PFT.

I want to report to you that Mr. Roosevelt has made a very positive initial impression with PFT officers and representatives. On Wednesday, August 31st, Mr. Roosevelt met with the PFT Executive Board in our building. On Wednesday, September 7th, he again visited our building and spoke individually with more than 130 PFT Building Representatives. PFT leaders at both sessions reacted favorably to Mr. Roosevelt’s presentations and conversations.

Without question, in the upcoming months, we will work hard with Mr. Roosevelt in his efforts to address the several, serious challenges our school district faces. We may not necessarily always agree with Mr. Roosevelt, but the genuine effort he has made thus far to communicate formally and informally with the PFT has helped establish a positive framework on which to build.

Efforts by PFT and District to Reduce Furloughs

In the weeks just prior to the start of school, PFT staff were very concerned about the potential for significant furloughs of colleagues in both the professional and paraprofessionals units. Even though a very large number of PPS employees chose to retire this past school year, we still faced the very real possibility of numerous layoffs.

However, because of a great deal of very hard, collaborative work by the PFT and the district, at this writing, instead of dozens of employees being furloughed, three professional employees and no paraprofessional employees are furloughed. Needless to say, both the PFT and the district continue to be concerned about placement of those three colleagues who have been furloughed.

All PFT staff contributed in this effort to minimize furloughs, but PFT’s Sherman Shrager deserves special acknowledgment and thanks for his work with the district. No one in the PFT is more knowledgeable about staffing in the district than Sherman, and he consistently applies the principles of maintaining positions, system seniority, and building seniority as the essential provisions for determining assignment of staff who face possible furlough.

PFT Celebrates Labor Day

More than 400 PFT members and supporters marched in the September 5 Labor Day Parade through downtown Pittsburgh. This number represents an almost ten-fold increase over previous years’ participation. Clearly, the outstanding work of the Labor Day Parade Committee, headed so ably by Nina Esposito-Visgitis, resulted in a very strong statement of our group’s theme: Solidarity – We’re together. We’re prepared.

Help for Katrina’s Victims

Many PFT members have asked how they can provide help to victims of the terrible hurricane which devastated much of the Gulf Coast area, including Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and part of Florida.

The PFT is urging members to contribute to the AFT’s Disaster Relief Fund. Contributions should be made payable to the AFT, with “disaster relief” written in the memo portion of the check. Members can give checks to their Building Representatives or mail them directly to AFT Disaster Relief Fund; Attn. Connie Cordovilla; 555 New Jersey Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001.

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For more information on status quo, the Disaster Relief Fund, and other topics, check the PFT website at www.pft400.org.

I hope that your start of the school year has been orderly, smooth, and productive. Thank you for your continued support of our union, our school district, and the children and young adults whom we serve.

We will face many challenges in the coming months, and I look forward to our continued work together in addressing every one of them.

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