By Elizabeth Goldman
Editor-in-Chief
And Sofia Williams
Managing Editor
Recent increases in inflation has caused the Manhattan Beach Unified School District Teachers Association (MBUTA) to conduct negotiations with the Manhattan Beach Unified School District (MBUSD) in order to draft a new contract.
According to Costa English Teacher and Union President Shawn Chen, the main goals of the negotiations between the two entities are to discuss class size, health/welfare benefits, and salary. The Union and the District have had six meetings, resulting in a 6% pay increase for teachers. However, MBUTA hopes to negotiate a pay increase over 9% in future meetings, according to Chen.
“Because we’ll be losing purchasing power due to inflation, the district’s ongoing funds of 20% makes it incumbent on us as representatives of the union to do the best for our members and get as much as we can from whatever the district can afford to attract new teachers because other districts around us are getting that same money,” said Chen.
The contract for the Teachers’ Union expired on June 30, 2022. However, teachers have been demonstrating through a “slow-down” of normal activities, during which teachers will only work during the hours when they are contractually bound to do so. According to Costa English teacher Lisa Cook, MBUSD and MBUTA have failed to come to an agreement regarding the stipulations of the teachers’ new contract.
“[The teachers] have put our side forward and expressed how valuable we are and how much we are assets to this school and to this community,” said Cook. “The district doesn’t seem to want to compensate for our time, for our effort, for our expertise, for our professionalism. Because we’ve been unable to come to an agreement in terms of what our contract should look like, things are at the stance that they are currently.”
According to MBUSD Public Information Officer Hibah Samad, the Teachers’ Union discusses issues at the bargaining table. The topics discussed are chosen by the MBUTA bargaining team, who decides which issues to bring forward on the behalf of teachers.
“Both the District and the Teachers’ union are entitled to bargain over wages, hours, and working conditions,” said Samad. “The ideal outcome is to reach a fair settlement that is acceptable to all parties.”
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, MBUSD schools received “one-time funding” for classroom materials. However, the one-time funds have been replaced by ongoing funds that were distributed to school districts throughout California. As a result, district funds have increased by 20%.
“Because [the district] has this ongoing money, they’re getting over the next two years about 20% ongoing new funds,” [MBUSD] could make up that 9% wage deficit that would keep [wages] steady,” said Chen. “We would like them to do a little better than that, so what we’re looking for is something that could help teachers make more than just staying even or losing money.”
The Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) indicates that salaries should fluctuate with inflation rates. According to Chen, however, if MBUSD teachers’ salaries remain the same, they will suffer a 9% decrease in wages due to inflation. MBUTA aims to negotiate for at least a 9% increase in salary to make up the deficit caused by inflation.
“Even though money is not being taken from us, the buying power of our current salaries is decreasing due to the current situation with inflation,” said Chen. “Teachers are not just staying steady, but our salaries are actually decreasing by 9%. We have the ability, through negotiation, to work with our employer to try to get them to change this.”
According to Chen, it is important for the district to comply with teachers’ requests for pay increases because other school districts, such as Torrance Unified School District (TUSD) and Downey Unified School District (DUSD) have already done so. According to Chen, the average salary for a teacher in TUSD is $10,000 more than that of an MBUSD employee.
“One of our goals in the negotiations is to be recognized appropriately for the services we offer. We do a lot for this community,” said Costa English teacher Lisa Cook. “We give a lot of our time, a lot of our effort, and a lot of ourselves, often at personal expense. No matter what’s asked of us, it always comes along with ‘we’ll do it for the kids,’ but eventually that becomes unhealthy and very unbalanced, so we feel like we’ve reached that point in the district.”
According to Economics teacher Adam Geczi, these wage issues are often a regional issue due to districts not wanting to stray too far from neighboring districts.
“The district always argues that they don’t have the money to do that, and they clearly have the money, they just don’t want to increase the wages by the required amount which I believe, depending on where you are, could be upwards of 16.5%,” said Geczi. “There are districts in California that can afford to pay what I think is the appropriate salary [and] we’re kind of lagging behind.”
According to Geczi, compared to his paycheck from when he was hired in 2006, an entry-level teacher today would be earning $3,950, or 7%, less than they should be if teachers’ salaries increased appropriately with inflation in accordance with the Consumer Price Index. Further, for a teacher with 20 years of experience in MBUSD, the deficit would be $13,000, or 14% compared to 2018 numbers.
“In general, there’s too much money chasing too few goods because of the pandemic [which is] the basic premise of our issue locally,” said Geczi. “When you take everything into account and look at the change in purchasing power for teachers at MBUSD, our wages have not kept up with inflation [or] the cost of living, [and]…for a teacher similar to [me]…our paycheck buys 14% less than what it should buy.”
Teachers have shown their support for pay increases in the union negotiations by wearing red shirts and pins with snails on them. Additionally, on Friday, March 24, teachers put signs in their car windows reading “We’re Worth More than 5%” to advocate for pay raises.
“We’re hoping for as many teachers [to support the Union’s efforts] as possible because that shows the district that [MBUTA has substantial support from teachers],” said Chen. “We need the district to know that our teachers are in agreement with us that they deserve the best possible deal, so this is a way for our teachers to demonstrate their support for the bargaining team.”
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