Principals won't get negotiated raise
Complete coverage of the Philadelphia School District by the Philadelphia Inquirer's Kristen Graham.
Principals won't get negotiated raise
Kristen Graham
Philadelphia School District principals were promised a raise on Jan. 1, but the cash-strapped district has said it’s not paying.
In September, 2011, the local chapter of the Commonwealth Association of School Administrators agreed to defer the three percent pay hike they were owed for a year. They agreed to the concession, union chief Robert McGrogan said at the time, because his members understood how bad the district’s finances were. (Layoffs that were threatened were also averted with the concessions.)
The three percent raise was supposed to show up in next week’s paycheck, whose particulars members can see beginning today. McGrogan found out this afternoon that the money’s not coming.
“Tarnishing is an understatement for what it has done to their credibility,” McGrogan said. “I believe the SRC has no integrity for the collective bargaining process.”
The principals’ contract expires in August; the two sides met to talk about opening negotiations earlier this week, and will start talking next month.
The double whammy of a change to Social Security payroll taxes and no raise means that “people’s net pay is going to be hundreds of dollars less than they’re expecting,” McGrogan said. “I don’t see their gas bills or their mortgages going down.”
In a statement, district officials said they asked CASA members to forego the raise, but they refused.
“The School District of Philadelphia is in serious financial distress, as indicated in the five-year financial plan that was issued this past year,” spokesman Fernando Gallard said the in the statement. “In order to reach fiscal stability as outlined in that five-year plan, we have asked all our employees to contribute to assist the district in meeting its financial challenge.”
That financial plan projects a deficit of over $1 billion over the next five years, if corrective action is not taken. It banks on millions in labor concessions to balance the books.
Gallard pointed out that the district’s blue-collar workers have already made significant financial concessions, and that non-represented employees took pay cuts, too.
But some non-union central office employees got pay hikes this year. (District officials say it was because most took on extra work or filled new jobs.)
McGrogan said his workers already agreed to concessions, and that the district’s action expressly violates the document officials signed last year, whose language he includes: “The SRC, by ratifying this agreement, irrevocably commits that it will not, during the life of this agreement through August 31, 2013, exercise any statutory authority it may possess to cancel, renegotiate or otherwise set aside this agreement.”
His members may be paid more than some other district workers, McGrogan said. But that doesn't give the district the right to violate an agreement.
The union will pursue arbitration, McGrogan said.
The district’s school police union is in a similar situation. Its members were due a three percent raise in June, and never saw it, said Michael Lodise, union chief.
“We’ll win our case in arbitration very easily, but I”m just worried about getting the money once we win,” Lodise said. “This system is in shambles right now.”
The SRC, under the state takeover law, does have special powers that allow it to cancel contracts in times of fiscal distress.
Apparently, a contract is a legally binding document between two parties unless one of those parties is the SRC.— mindstorms- Why...in the midst of a Depression...AND w/ universally failing schools in Philly would we ever even CONSIDER a raise for these flunkies?— ghostinthemachine99
This is an outrage. Why do favored staffers at 440 administration get raises, hefty raises at that. And the hardest job out there, principal comes up with nothing? This is outrageous. I keep reading about people just asking Hite and the district administrators for "Shared Sacrifice". So where is the shared sacrifice? Hite made a mistake. Those 25 staffers who received raises must give those raises back.- Why would in the Philly School system demand a raise? They all make a good living, as is..shame on every one of them. Teachers across Pa. also demanding raises for over and over and over PAID positions. Keep it up and taxpayers across the state are going to revolt...ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! To teachers, go find another high paying job....NOT!!!— thepaguy
- these are principals not teachers.
you are still smart though.....NOT
dope— the lopez! 
The district maintenance employees had contractually agreed raises coming early last year and the district decided not to pay them either. Grab a box of tissues and get in line, McGrogan.— gilligan- To all of the principals who gutlessly bowed down to Arlene Ackerman and ruthlessly savaged dedicated, hard-working teachers, good for you.— Boru
- Some of you folks are ignoring the bigger picture due to your disdain for principals and/or teachers. Just because you don't like a class of people does not mean that it is ok for their rights to be trampled upon. It's not about the raise so much as it's about the SRC entering into an agreement in September 2011 and then deciding to say our word and our signature mean nothing. I guess all of you folks siding with the SRC would be just fine if the government used its authority to do whatever it wanted to you, or your employer decided to institute whatever working conditions it sees fit.— Educator
- Hey atkins, how you like that election? Say it with me now, Ba-rack 0-bam-a two term president of the United States.— mick-of-the-moment
- mick: read this:http://blackagendareport.com/content/obamas-race-top-drives-nationwide-wave-school-closings-teacher-firings
happy?— pointguard - lmao,src biznez as usel,p.f.t your in truble in april........— jok
During the school year, you’ll frequently find her hosting live chats about the district on Philly.com. Please do pass along the scoop about what’s going on at your Philadelphia public school; Kristen welcomes tips, story ideas and witty banter at kgraham@phillynews.com or 215-854-5146.
You can also follow Kristen on Twitter here.
