Vancouver Public Schools’ support staff union will go on strike effective Friday if a contract deal is not reached this week.
By a vote of 93 percent, the Vancouver Association of Educational Support Professionals voted Tuesday to go on strike in light of continued disagreements over contract negotiations. About 500 people attended the general membership meeting at Fort Vancouver High School.
The decision comes a week earlier than previously intended by VAESP members, who voted last month that if a deal was not reached by Feb. 1, that they would take a strike vote. Lynn Davidson with the regional office of the Washington Education Association and lead spokeswoman for the VAESP said members are ready to take direct action now.
“We hope it puts pressure on them,” Davidson said. “That’s the whole deal.”
Vancouver Public Schools spokeswoman Pat Nuzzo said the district will evaluate whether or not schools can continue to open in light of the strike. Students in the district already missed four days of school in August and September after teachers and certificated staff went on strike.
“We will communicate with families as quickly as possible after we learn more,” Nuzzo said by email.
Union members described the last several weeks of negotiations as an “emotional roller coaster,” “an unfortunate situation,” and “disappointing.”
“Everyone in this room wants to work,” said Paige Wilson, a secretary at Chinook Elementary School. “We love what we do and we just want it to end.”
On Dec. 21, the school district and union announced they had reached a tentative agreement, promising raises to more than 700 secretaries, clerks, paraeducators and other support staff district wide.
But both sides have accused the other of pulling out of that tentative agreement, citing disagreements on whether or not the agreed-upon raises include a state-approved 1.9 percent inflationary raise increase. That increase has already been applied to members’ salaries this school year.
The district on Tuesday announced that, after a day of mediated bargaining, it had proposed a three-year contract the union rejected. The proposal would include an average salary increase of 10.2 percent for the 2018-2019 school year, which includes the state cost-of-living, followed by two years of cost-of-living increases. The district also offered $125,000 for workload relief and either $250,000 to improve staffing positions or a 1 percent salary increase in the 2020-2021 school year.
The district also announced it would move forward with an unfair labor practice claim against VAESP with the Public Employment Relations Commission, alleging the union has engaged in “regressive bargaining.”
According to a district press release, its “position has not changed that VAESP and VPS signed the Dec. 21 tentative agreement with a mutual understanding of the terms.”
Maureen Buckner, a special programs and counseling clerk, said she was ready to go on strike.
“We don’t want to. We’d rather have an agreement,” she said. “But we need to take a stand.”
Rick Wilson, executive director of the Vancouver Education Association — the union for teachers and certificated staff — said leadership were conducting a poll of its members to determine whether they would join classified staff on the picket lines if VAESP strikes.
There is another mediated bargaining session scheduled on Jan. 30, according to the district.
