WEAC members prevail with arbitrators

"The imposition of revenue caps is testament to the fact that the school district financing system in this state is broken."

That was the strong language from an arbitrator in a precedent-setting case involving WEAC members.

Members of the Whitewater Education Support Professionals recently won their arbitration after the school district tried to reduce their insurance payments and freeze their pay.

The arbitrator said school district financial troubles should not be balanced on the backs of employees.

The arbitrator also said decreases in employee insurance benefits should be offset with salary increases or increases in other areas. He said he looked at other arbitration cases, and in all of the cases where the employer prevailed, employees received a quid pro quo for the loss of another benefit.

"This case shows that objective observers see that revenue controls have placed hardships on school districts and staff," WEAC President Stan Johnson said. "Members who are not subject to the Qualified Economic Offer law can still go to arbitration and seek fairness."

The school district's offer would have increased employee contributions toward health insurance by 14% while freezing employees' wages.

"It was so onerous, we were confident that the arbitrator would find our offer more reasonable," WEAC Negotiations Specialist Greg Spring said.

The union offer maintained the employer insurance contribution at 94% and provided a modest 15-cent per cell hourly wage increase.

In another arbitration involving WEAC members, the Northcentral Technical College Educational Support Professionals Association won its case.

NESPA had proposed a final offer of a 3.1% per cell wage increase for 2002-03 and a 2.95% wage increase for 2003-04, with no change in insurance. NTC proposed a final offer of 2.0% wage increase per cell for each of the years and an increase of the $100/200 deductibles to $200/600. The college also proposed doubling the drug card deductible from $50 to $100.

The arbitrator found that NTC's wage proposal was considerably below average when compared to other technical colleges and that NESPA's health insurance proposal of maintaining the status quo was closer to the health benefits at the other colleges.

"The arbitrator found that none of the comparables had deductibles as high as those proposed by the board," Central Wisconsin UniServ Council Director Jina Jonen said. "NESPA members should be commended for not giving in to an offer that was clearly much less than they deserved."