PLACENTIA YORBA LINDA : School District Asks Contract Mediation

Declaring that it has reached an impasse in negotiations with the union representing non-teaching employees, the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District has asked that a state mediator step in.

The district and the California School Employees Assn. have been negotiating a new contract since August. The two sides have not been able to agree on 15 issues, including pay increases, Assistant Supt. Tim Van Eck said.

The district’s offer freezes salaries at the current level, while the union has asked for an unspecified increase.

“They said they wanted an increase comparable to what other similar public agencies are granting their employees,” Van Eck said. “I don’t know what they are referring to.”

The union represents bus drivers, secretaries, aides, maintenance and other non-teaching employees.

A state mediator will meet with negotiators Wednesday. The mediator has 15 days to work with the two groups and make suggestions. If no progress is made, the matter will go to a three- member fact-finding panel, which also will make non-binding recommendations.

The previous contract was a three-year agreement that Van Eck called one of the most generous he had seen.

“They received pay increases in the amount of 10% in the first year and 7% in both the second and third years,” he said.

Van Eck said the district’s teachers received the same contract for that period. But recently, he said, teachers signed a three-year contract that includes no pay increases.

Union President Nancy Lavallee confirmed that a mediator has been called in but declined to discuss the union’s position.