News
The East Meadow Teachers Association
Working In Union With East Meadow
East Meadow School District Commits Fraud
After three long years, striving to achieve a fair agreement with the school district, Wednesday, September 12th, payday, should have been a date on which the teachers and school-related personnel began to feel better about the district they work for. Instead, this day merely signaled the continuation of the district’s disdain for its employees.
One of the terms agreed to in the contract settlement was that the teachers’ salary schedule would be compressed from 36 steps to 31 steps. Moving forward, all those paid on the schedule would receive annual increases. At the table, both sides understood what salary compression and its ramifications meant. However, in a deceitful fashion that defies belief, the school district eliminated some teachers’ years of service. As a result, many of those beyond their 18th year were actually paid a lesser salary than was negotiated and agreed to by both the EMTA and the school district. Incredibly, for the purpose of placing those members on the new salary schedule, the district moved them back a number of steps rather than forward!
Hoping this was a simple clerical mistake, the EMTA met with the district on Tuesday. Given some of their fraudulent positions taken in the past, it should surprise no one that the district maintains it is within its right to do what it did. It will not change its position on the issue. Nowhere in the agreement does language exist that condones what they did. Nor could language have pre-empted their thievery. What was done is akin to paying members whatever they please, regardless of what negotiated salary schedules may say. This is a classic example of the lowest form of deceit, agreeing to a contract with the expressed purpose in mind of instantly violating it. And this, teachers, is the type of school district we work in.
Regrettably, this is a fight that the district has chosen to initiate. We are all committed to standing behind what was negotiated in good faith and to holding the district accountable for their despicable behavior. The district has thrown down the gauntlet and we will all respond accordingly.
