On Friday, May 15 and Wednesday, May 20 the NECW bargaining team met with representatives from NCS in ongoing negotiation discussions. We are happy to report that we have good news to share in regard to step and salary increases for Head Start and Early Head Start employees. However, the gains that have been achieved currently apply only to these federal-funded programs and not state-funded childcare employees. Those discussions are currently being addressed and remain unresolved.
As you know, last year step increases for eligible employees were frozen. NECW filed an unfair labor practice charge that was investigated by the NLRB. The NLRB sustained the charge and the issue was subsequently resolved in a mediated agreement between NCS and NECW representatives. The agreement reached means that employees who were eligible to receive a step increase last year will now receive that step increase in the coming year, in addition to any other step increases they might be eligible for this year.
In other words, if an employee was eligible for a step increase this year, and eligible for an increase next year, they would be receiving two step increases beginning next year for a total of 10% applied to their hourly rate of pay. All eligible employees scheduled to receive a step increase for next year only will receive a 5% step increase.
In addition, all HS/EHS employees will receive a 4.9% Cost of Living Increase (COLA) increase. 3.06% will be applied on-schedule, which means that amount will be on-going and carry over from year to year. Of the 4.9% increase, 1.84% of that amount will be off-schedule for the 2009/2010 program year, or only guaranteed for one year.
Due to the economic stimulus package approved by congress and signed by President Obama, there are additional funds including Quality Improvement dollars available for bargaining. We will keep you informed as progress continues.
This is of course good news for all eligible HS and EHS employees, however our work is far from over. We will be returning to the bargaining table on Wednesday, June 3 and will be discussing benefits for all employees, in addition to step and salary increases for all state-funded program employees as well. More to come.