BETHLEHEM, Pa. — With picket signs in hand, dozens of striking Bethlehem Area School District secretaries gathered outside East Hills Middle School on Monday before the district's school board meeting.
As cars passed the corner along Chester Avenue, they honked in support of the clerical staff, which in turn generated cheers from the union members.
Teamster Local 773 Clerical and Secretarial Employees were protesting the district’s handling of contract negotiations, which first started in February, according to a Bethlehem Area School Board statement.
"They don’t want to be out on strike, but at some point, we had to make the decision to stand up for a fair contract.”Dennis Hower, president of Teamster Local 773
The district’s 80 clerical staff members went on strike Monday morning, just as students were arriving for the first day of school.
“They care about the kids that are in the building," said Dennis Hower, president of Teamster Local 773, who spoke with LehighValleyNews.com by phone ahead of the board meeting.
"They don’t want to be out on strike, but at some point, we had to make the decision to stand up for a fair contract.”
About 40 secretaries and supporters attended the meeting, but refrained from addressing school directors during public comment.
The clerical and secretarial employees’ three-year contract expired June 30. Representatives from BASD and Teamster Local 773 met Friday and Saturday to negotiate, but didn't reach an agreement on some issues, including pay, paid-time off, health insurance and working conditions.
'Hopeful fair settlement can be reached'
BASD secretaries currently are paid $26.34 an hour and have one paid-time off, or PTO, day.
Additionally, Hower said Teamster Local 773 asked the district to take seniority into account when secretaries apply for open roles in BASD.
The union is also asking BASD to keep air-conditioning on in the summer when members are working in the buildings.
The district has proposed a fair and generous wage increase for the employees for the next three years. This board is hopeful that a fair settlement can be reached soon.Bethlehem Area School Board Statement
School Board Vice President Shannon Patrick read a statement regarding the clerical staff strike on behalf of school directors at Monday’s meeting.
“The Bethlehem Area School District Board of School Directors respects the professionalism of the district’s clerical and secretarial employees,” she said.
“The BASD’s secretarial and clerical employees currently have the most generous pay and compensation package of secretarial and clerical bargaining unit employees among public school districts in the local area.
“The district’s health care benefits are comprehensive and low-cost. The district has proposed a fair and generous wage increase for the employees for the next three years.
"This board is hopeful that a fair settlement can be reached soon.”
Hower said BASD has only agreed to a handful of meetings since negotiations began earlier this year — that includes the two meetings this past weekend.
“We gave them so many opportunities to pick dates to get to a reasonable solution here before the beginning of school,” he said. “It just got to the point where they weren’t serious to get to an agreement.”
'A structural issue'
BASD Superintendent Jack Silva said after Monday’s meeting that “the district is serious about coming to a resolution.”
Secretaries have “always been an afterthought” to the district, Hower said. Clerical staff members have taken wage freezes as other district employees have seen raises, he added.
“You guys do not pay enough,” she said to school directors. “I am willing to pay extra taxes to keep Bethlehem a better school district with better people — to keep people here.”District parent Anna Silvasi
Anna Silvasi, a district parent, spoke in support of the striking secretaries during public comment at the board meeting.
“You guys do not pay enough,” she said to school directors. “I am willing to pay extra taxes to keep Bethlehem a better school district with better people — to keep people here.”
Silvasi said school secretaries always greet her son, who has special needs, and make him feel included in the school community.
Anna Thomas, a BASD graduate and Democratic state House candidate, also attended the board meeting and visited the striking secretaries at schools throughout the day.
She told LehighValleyNews.com that it’s important to acknowledge how inadequate state funding financially strains school districts such as Bethlehem Area and local taxpayers.
“I never will discount the role that the state has in fairly funding the Bethlehem Area School District,” she said.
Thomas is running to represent the 137th District, which includes BASD, as well as Easton Area and Nazareth Area school districts. State Rep. Joe Emrick, a Republican, is the incumbent.
“There’s a structural issue in how we have funded our school districts as a state,” she said. “And it’s created these massive funding gaps and, unfortunately, the avalanche effect is when our clerical staff has to strike on the first day of school.”
The next bargaining session between BASD and Teamster Local 773 will be Wednesday.
