Thursday, April 4, 2013
No vote is taken; the House hearing takes place April 10.
All the players were there, but the venue was changed. Instead of Town Hall or Swift Community Center, members of the East Greenwich Town Council, EG Fire District, and a few other interested parties were crammed into Room 211 at the State House Wednesday afternoon for the Senate Finance Committee hearing on Senate Bill 739, which if passed would abolish the East Greenwich Fire District, paving the way for creation of a town fire department. The legislation was introduced in February, following passage of a referendum in November asking voters if they favored merging the fire district into the town. Almost everyone who testified at the hearing Wednesday had been heard before voicing similar arguments, but one new voice in favor of the …
Friday, January 18, 2013
They are the first of three town unions to settle their contract.
The police union approved a new three-year contract Monday night in a 20-2 vote. The contract now goes before the Town Council for a vote Jan. 28. The contract gives no raise the first year, a 2 percent raise in year two, and a 3 percent raise in year three. The police union is the first of the town’s three unions to settle a contract. Contracts for all three unions expired at the end of the last fiscal year – June 30, 2012 – so this new police contract, if approved by the Council, will be retroactive to July 1, 2012. Lieutenant Stanley "Skip" Cirella, the union representative for the police, said negotiations with the town began a year ago. “It is definitely a process that takes time,” he said. “As usual we do hope to complete …
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Union representatives say any changes need to be negotiated.
In a 6-0 vote Tuesday night, the School Committee approved a new personnel policy that eliminates using senority as the sole criteria for teacher hiring and placement. Committeewoman Mary Ellen Winter was absent. School Committee Chair David Green said the action came in an effort to align EGSD policy with the state Department of Education's Basic Education Program, or BEP. The BEP calls for "an effective human capital management system," according to a 2009 letter from Education Commissioner Deborah Gist to superintendents. In that letter, Gist highlighted the language in the BEP (which was enacted by Gist's predecessor, Peter McWalter) that reads, "each LEA shall maintain control of its ability to recruit, hire, manage, evaluate and …
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Kristin Henrikson works for the EGFD and is married to Fire Chief Peter Henrikson.
East Greenwich Fire District employee Kristin Henrikson filed a second suit against the district and the firefighters union late last week, this time in state court. Henrikson filed a lawsuit in federal court against the district, the union and the former fire chief in September 2011. Henrikson, chief clerk for the Fire District, is married to Fire Chief Peter Henrikson. In the new complaint, the EGFD and the union are accused of failing to provide Henrikson with fair representation. Unions are required to provide what’s known as “fair representation” of all union members — to represent all employees fairly, in good faith, and without discrimination. According to the complaint, the union failed to represent Henrikson after the district …
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
The teachers union cites failure of the schools to notify about negotiating a new contract, paving the way for a one-year contract extension.
Before contract negotiations have even begun on a new teachers contract — the existing one expires July 30 — the two sides are at loggerheads over the breach of a clause in the contract that the union says extends their contract one year. According to Supt. Victor Mercurio, union officials told him earlier this month that since they were not notified in writing about the school department’s desire to negotiate a new contract, the existing contract would be renewed for an additional year. Although that language does exist in the contract between the teachers and the school department, that is not how school officials see it. “We were surprised and disappointed,” said School Committee Chair Deidre Gifford. “There’s no reason why they can’t …
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Friday, January 6, 2012
The 85-member union gains 2-percent salary increases a year for three years.
In what could be a precursor to teacher contract negotiations this summer, the 85-member paraprofessional and secretarial union and the school department have come to agreement on a new three-year contract that boosts health co-pays while granting 2 percent salary increases each year. “I feel that we came out with a pretty fair deal considering the economy,” said Sue Verdon, an office paraprofessional at East Greenwich High School. “Some other school departments … didn’t fair as well as we have.” Union members will receive 2 percent salary increases for each of the fiscal years 2012 (which began July 1, 2011), 2013 and 2014. In addition, members - who had been paying 5 percent co-pays for health benefits - will now have to pay 8 percent …
Friday, July 1, 2011
The bill would have required teacher unions and municipalities to seek a third party to resolve contract disputes.
A General Assembly bill that would require binding arbitration in contract disputes with teacher unions passed the Senate but was not brought to the floor of the House for a vote before the session ended earlier Friday morning. East Greenwich Town Council President Michael Isaacs, School Committee Chairwoman Deidre Gifford and Town Manager Bill Sequino all went to the State House to voice their opposition to the bill on Wednesday when it was heard on the floor of the Senate. Under the proposed bill, in the case of a contract negotiation stalemate, both union and School Committee members would agree to abide by the decision of an independent three-member panel of arbitrators. Isaacs and Gifford both testified before the Senate on Wednesday…
Gene Dumas
10:03 pm on Saturday, April 6, 2013
Hey Change. Of course those are not my words. I wish I had that prowess of Mr. Franklin. I feel we should all take a step back and reflect on how we all got here. Lets all "look around" and say THANKS! more ›