LWESP Bargaining Update for 2/10/10

Business as usual will not work in Lake Washington. We saw this with the loss of the capital projects bond measure. We saw this with the way the administration takes its employees and the community for granted. We saw this with the vague, outdated language in the LWESP Contract and the archaic and arbitrary salary schedule that still exists.

The District and LWESP bargaining teams have reached some tentative agreements on language issues. We have gained the right to be free of retaliation when filing a grievance or a complaint, citizenship rights, the right to be paid at the rate of a higher classification when assigned higher classification work, a clear reclassification process with a joint reclassification committed to review request, a process for handling overpayments and underpayments of salary, and some clean-up language for the grievance procedure.

There is much more work to be done to bring the LWESP Contract and pay practices into the 21st century. The District team has not moved on the salary issue. The LWESP Team has made it crystal clear that the "coffin lane" has got to go. We need a salary schedule that is predictable, fair, based on years of experience, and that provides our members with a living wage. Other school districts in the area have managed to develop modern salary schedules that are based on a written classification system and on employee experience.

Why cant' Lake Washington join the 21st century??

We meet again on February 24 and March 2.

Help us Bury the Coffin Lane!

LWESP Bargaining Team