Editorial: Freeze for now and the future

Thursday, 11 February 2010 01:00

If the teachers in this district want to consider themselves a part of the community in Katonah and Lewisboro, it’s time to start acting like it and accept a salary freeze. Unfortunately, many of them may want to do so but their voices are not being heard as the union’s executive board is calling the shots.

In the community, residents are suffering through one of the worst recessions in history with unemployment in double digits and the value of their greatest assets, their homes, plunging. In addition, the quality of education their kids are receiving is being compromised because of massive cuts that will affect students of all ages. The union could help ease both burdens on the community considerably by accepting the school board’s request for a salary freeze. Yet it steadfastly refuses to delay the teachers’ annual increases — which can run as high as nearly 10%.

It’s no surprise that this union is fine with playing hardball at the expense of the community: When its contract failed to be renewed a couple of years ago, teachers lined the sidewalks near the entrances to the schools, dressed completely in black and saying nothing when the buses arrived to drop off the kids. Needless to say, the teachers’ actions frightened a number of elementary students.

However, it is unclear if the union members are as united on this front as they were back in 2007. The school board has said that not accepting a salary freeze will force them to fire 30 teachers, which undoubtedly does not sit well with the younger members of the union who have yet to be tenured and whose jobs are on the chopping block. But it was the union’s executive board, led by its president, Sandra Grebinar, and other longtime teachers, whose jobs are largely untouchable and who are nearing retirement when any salary hit could affect their pensions, that refused the salary freeze. So whose best interests do they have in mind — the few or the many?

The district itself created part of this mess two years ago when it agreed to the current contract, which runs until 2011. During that process, the district conceded higher annual increases in exchange for the teachers contributing more to their health benefits. The district is limited somewhat in how drastically it can change terms in a new contract because of the arbitration process, but after years of the union having its way in these “negotiations,” it was unfortunate the district was not able to secure greater concessions.

Of course, with those negotiated terms in place, the union has every right to refuse any changes to the contract. But that decision will hurt the union now with teachers losing their jobs, as well as later when it weakens the union’s leverage in future labor negotiations. It will further exacerbate a diminishing public sentiment for the plight of teachers here, as their salaries surpass those of many of the taxpayers who pay them, while they still enjoy benefits and vacation time that are unheard of in the private sector.

The future of the union rests on its members demanding a different outcome from its representatives. That may seem difficult, as union members — including some on the executive board — who disagree with Ms. Grebinar’s stance are ignored, especially since there is a culture of silence and paranoia in the union. For example, after the school board’s request for a salary freeze, Ms. Grebinar sent an e-mail to all union members demanding that they “speak to no one about [union] matters at this time,” and that “outsiders who want to know our business have malicious intentions.”

But the union’s bylaws do call for an election every other year, and two years have passed since Ms. Grebinar lost a close election before a re-vote got her re-elected. If an election fails to be held, members might have another option. Last year, the district’s support staff union added a clause to its bylaws that allowed members to petition for a president to be ousted, which happened just a few months later.

Challenging union heads is never an easy task, but their actions have made it necessary. Only by accepting the freeze will teachers remain in the heart of the community while protecting their financial interests now and in years to come.