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Reply to "Teachers Unions in Private Schools?"
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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]13:08 Why does WIS have a teachers union? Anyone know? [/quote] I taught at WIS for quite a few years. I've taught at other area private schools as well. I'm not sure "why" WIS has a union (which has existed for many years), but I've wondered more why not every school has a union. I've been very surprised to read the comments on this thread. The WIS Staff Association has a very healthy relationship with the administration. I believe that everyone benefits from the active dialogue and the ongoing consideration of what is in the best interests of every constituency in the school, including the faculty, staff, and administration, as well as the students and their families. Each year, the representatives of the WIS Staff Association bring proposals to the administration, and the administration brings proposals to the Staff Association. Sometimes months of healthy discussion ensue before a lengthy written agreement (over 30 pages) is finalized. Many of the provisions are carried over from year to year, with updates, revisions, or new items as needed. Here are a few examples of changes to the agreement over time. Long ago, WIS used to provide a higher percentage of employee health insurance (about 90% for individuals and families, as I recall). This was reduced to something like a 75% WIS contribution for individual coverage and lower family coverage in exchange for improvements in other benefits. This reduction in employee health insurance contribution might have occurred around the time that WIS instituted retirement benefits with generous annual contributions from WIS and modest annual contributions from the faculty. There had been a long tradition of a generous tuition benefit for faculty/staff children attending WIS. It was a subject of debate over a period of years; the administration wanted to reduce or remove that benefit while continuing to provide need-based tuition assistance. The faculty was reluctant to give up a benefit. I don't recall if negotiating a compromise was related to the launching of retirement benefits, salary improvements, or something else. The compromise involved a grandfather clause for faculty who were employed as of that year; it covered even unborn future children of those faculty members; but faculty hired subsequently could only receive need-based tuition benefits for their children. There were also negotiations over the pay scale for existing faculty and incoming faculty. Long ago, new faculty were placed on the pay scale according to years of experience, but their initial placement granted a rise of only one step for every two years of prior experience (and a step for an advanced degree), and as I recall, it was capped at step 7. This was intended to protect the existing faculty somewhat, many of whom had worked at WIS for many years for very low salaries in the early years, who were not eager to see new faculty jump in high on the salary scale when the salaries were finally catching up to those of other top private schools in the area. But as I recall, with this limitation on salaries for new hires, the school was not always able to seal the deal with top candidates; the administration wanted more flexibility in placing newly-hired faculty on the salary scale, and this provision was amended with more generous terms for the new hires. Other provisions of the agreement address working hours, rotas, supplements for a variety of roles (such as subject coordinators), professional development, the evaluation of newly hired teachers and ongoing faculty evaluation, job security, and more. I have always regarded WIS's annual process of proposing, discussing, and ratifying changes to the agreement to reflect mutual respect and professionalism on the part of the faculty and administration. It's a beautiful thing. [/quote] Sounds like veterans banding together to screw over newcomers.[/quote]
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