School Custodians Agree to Two-Year Pay Freeze

When the School Board was presented with letters of understanding Monday night from three of the four unions representing school employees, it balked at approving the one with custodial workers because it did not specify a time frame for the agreement.

Board members were confused and leery of what seemed to be an incomplete document, and a couple of them appeared to think that the union and the administration were trying to pull a fast one. After all, the other two unions had agreed to accept a pay freeze and higher benefit payments for a full year, as clearly specified in their memorandums.

Wednesday night, at a special board meeting to consider a new draft of the agreement, the custodians revealed their true colors: They had agreed to the pay freeze for not one, but two years, which is also the life of their current contract.

And, like the other unions, custodians of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Local 1561, also agreed to pay more toward health-care benefits and their pensions.

The School Board quickly and unanimously approved the agreement, but not before Superintendent Phil Ertl made a brief but pointed statement.

"Here is an agreement that has wages frozen for both years," Ertl said. "The discussions that we've had with (Local) 1561 have been very good. We have some great employees in that group and we've always had good negotiations with them.

"Thank you to their leadership and to all their members."

As the room was empty, except for a Patch editor, board President Lois Weber said to Ertl: "I hope you will thank them for us as well."

The district desperately needed the agreement with the custodians because the savings it entails are critical to meeting staffing and budget deadlines.

In one week, the district has to present layoff notices and changes in assignment to the teaching staff, which forms the bulk of its payroll and budget. By June 30, the district has to adopt a balanced budget for the coming year. Without the savings in interim agreements with its unions, the district would be hard pressed to meet those deadlines without more layoffs.

One union agreement remains unresolved. The Wauwatosa Education Support Association (WESA), representing administrative assistants, has not yet signed on, but that accounts for only about 60 employees.

Ertl said Monday that the district was "making progress" with a WESA agreement, and after Wednesday night's meeting, the School Board went into closed session to hear how those discussions are proceeding.

With the AFSCME agreement, the school district is close to filling a $6.5 million budget gap brought on by the looming cuts to education in the state budget without any of the savings promised in the budget repair bill, which would strip public unions of most bargaining rights and force higher benefit payments.

The budget repair bill is stalled in court challenges that may take months to resolve.

In the interim, the Wauwatosa Education Association (WEA), representing teachers; the Wauwatosa Education Support Professionals (WESP), representing teachers' aides; and now AFSCME, have accepted pay freezes, 5.8 percent pension contributions and higher-deductible health care plans for the coming year.

And, in the case of AFSCME, for the year beyond.