McKeesport teachers union votes down proposed contract, strike still possible

The McKeesport Area Education Association has voted down a tentative one-year contract, according to Tribune-Review news partner WTAE.

The one-year deal had been worked out between the McKeesport Area School Board of Directors and the Association. However, in a vote Thursday night, union members rejected the deal by a vote of 103-89.

“The ducks aren’t in order,” association president Gerald McGrew Jr. told WTAE on Thursday. “The house is in disarray, and the children and the association and everybody is suffering because of it.”

The union has been working without a contract since August, when the school board rejected a longer-term agreement that had been agreed to by the district and the union.

The district’s solicitor and chief negotiator for the board Gary Matta said the longer-term deal would have cost the district between $1.3 million and $1.5 million each year of the contract. “The board felt that that was a little bit excessive,” Matta told WTAE.

After the larger deal was rejected, the union voted to authorize a strike. However, the teachers have yet to leave the classrooms.

In early October, the MAEA granted what it called a final 30-day extension to negotiate teacher contracts with the district. Later that month, members of each side met and arrived at the one-year deal that the union then rejected Thursday. That deal provided for a $1,500 raise to each employee who falls under “Step 16” of the salary schedule.

McGrew told WTAE that he doesn’t think a strike is coming. But he wouldn’t rule it out either.

“Eventually, we have to push them to the point where you have to find out and make an offer,” McGrew said.

Both McGrew and Matta say that the recent resignation of the district’s business manager hasn’t helped matters.