Tustin Teachers Protest as Contract Talks Stall : Letter to State Labor Board Requests Mediator; 125 Stage Rally to Denounce District’s Action

Most of the 125 protesting teachers were dressed in black clothes, and many wore black armbands and carried black helium-filled balloons.

Some carried placards bearing messages such as “Crisis in Tustin Schools--Teachers Need Your Help.”

The scene was the parking lot of Tustin High School Wednesday afternoon. The event was a protest rally of Tustin Unified School District teachers, who have been without a contract since July 1.

“The black signifies mourning and our unity,” said Sandy Banis, president of the Tustin Educators Assn.

She told the teachers that the Tustin school board had suspended contract negotiations Wednesday, pending word from the state on the board’s request for a mediator.

“They don’t want to talk,” she said. “They want us to stay on here, to be frustrated, but they don’t want to negotiate.”

Impasse Declared

But earlier, in a separate interview, district Supt. Maurice Ross said the school board had written to the Public Employment Relations Board to declare an impasse because “we’ve had 23 negotiating sessions, lasting a total of 65 hours, and we haven’t closed (agreed) on anything.”

The state employment relations board must declare that negotiations have reached an impasse before a mediator will be sent. Ross said the school board believes a state mediator might be able to lead the two sides to an agreement.

One of the chief issues in the dispute is the teachers’ demand for a 9% cost-of-living pay raise. Ross has said repeatedly that the district cannot afford a cost-of-living adjustment this year.

Ross said Wednesday that Tustin Unified teachers make the highest average salary of any unified district in Orange County. That average salary, he said, is $29,900, “and if you include fringe benefits, the total an average teacher makes is about $37,000 a year.”

He said the school board would like to give teachers a pay raise this year but simply has no more money.

Argument Disputed

“We’ll be glad to put in contingency language in a new contract,” Ross added. “That language would give teachers any money that might come available. But the situation now is there just isn’t any money for a (cost-of-living adjustment).”

At the protest rally, Banis and other speakers disputed Ross’ claim. They said that the district is overly conservative, and one speaker charged that the school board’s “favorite game is putting it (money) away for a rainy day.”

Marilyn Bittle of Burlingame, president of the California Teachers Assn., the parent union of the Tustin Educators Assn., was a featured speaker.

“You are really what the CTA is all about,” Bittle told the rally. “You have to keep working and working and working (for a favorable settlement). . . . Teachers around the state are watching what happens in Tustin, because what happens here could happen anywhere.”

Several other labor leaders and teachers who spoke at the rally blasted Ross, accusing him of not negotiating in good faith. Banis and other speakers also criticized Ross and the school board for extending the length of the school day and school year this year without consulting the teachers’ association.

Decisions Defended

Ross has said the school board was forced to lengthen the school day and year unilaterally because the teachers’ union did not agree on any proposals put forth last summer. Ross said the board had to set dates and school hours so parents would know well in advance.

But at the rally, the teachers said Ross’ move in lengthening school days and the school year was both illegal and antagonistic to teachers.

Some teachers, during a question-and-answer session at the rally, also denounced Ross for sending letters to teachers in which he comments on the district’s finances and state of contract negotiations. “I consider that to be unfair labor tactics,” one teacher said.

Ross has said he feels it is necessary to send the letters “to correct accumulated misinformation.”