SOMA Board of Ed, Education Association Remain at Impasse

South Orange and Maplewood Board of Education and the South Orange and Maplewood Education Association (SOMEA) remain at an impasse after the Association rejected a 2.2 percent salary increase, the Board said.

"The negotiation ‘s ratification process was completed on Monday December 9, 2013 at South Orange Middle School  where 91 percent of a majority of SOMEA members voted NO to the Board’s one year settlement offer," SOMEA stated on its website.

The following message was read by South Orange and Maplewood Board of Education Vice President Sandra Karriem during the Dec. 16 public meeting.

In December 2012, the Board reached put to SOMEA to begin negotiations for a new contract. SOMEA informed the Board then that it would not be ready to meet until March, and the parties finally met on April 18, 2013 and April 25, 2013 for negotiation sessions.

At the second meeting on April 25, 2013, immediately after the Board and the Association sat down to begin the negotiation session, the Association declared impasse and the negotiations were moved to mediation. SOMEA initiated mediation by filing a Notice with the Public Employment Relations Commission declaring that the partis were not able to come to agreement and asking for third-party neutral (a mediator) to be assigned to the negotiation.

Upon the appointment of the mediator, the Board and the Association met for mediation sessions in June and September, 2013. In September, the parties agreed upon terms for a one-year contract. Additionally, the parties agreed to meet with the appointed mediator to begin negotiations in January 2014 for a successor three-year contract.

A Memorandum of Agreement (“MOA”) was prepared and signed by representatives of the Board and SOMEA. The MOA provided a 2.2 percent salary increase, with no union concessions and stipulated that the parties would prepare mutually agreeable salary guides. The Board prepared and submitted four different possible salary guides to the Association. The Association did not participate in the preparation of the guides nor did it prepare any salary guides for the Board to review.

Recently, the Association presented the Memorandum of Agreement and one of the Board's proposed salary guides to its members for approval. This was presented as the Board's “settlement offer” and not as a signed Memorandum of Agreement and a mutually developed salary guide. The Association voted to reject the Memorandum of Agreement and the salary guide.

Although SOMEA has rejected the MOA signed by its leadership, the Board is prepared to continue to negotiate with the Association to reach agreement on a successor Agreement to the Agreement which expired June 2013. We are hopeful that SOMEA will return to the table soon to work on reaching a fair and mutually satisfactory agreement that is in the best interest to our students, staff and taxpayers.