Negotiations with teachers at standstill

Nine months of negotiating changes to employee health insurance came to a standstill Monday night as representatives for the local school system and teachers' union could not agree on the only option presented so far.

Tension built throughout the three-hour meeting, as both sides expressed frustrations and accused the other of stalling progress.

"I guess my concern right now is that what we've done to this point basically has been in vain," said Rick Smith, Hamilton County Schools' deputy superintendent and a member of the district's bargaining team. "I was hoping to hear that there may be one or two issues to take a much more focused look at, but that's not what I'm hearing. I'm hearing that what we've presented is unacceptable."

Several weeks ago, members of the school system's team presented an option to representatives for the Hamilton County Education Association. Changes included an increase in employees' monthly contribution to health insurance, from $25 to $100; In the preferred provider organization plan: Begin using a three-tiered drug plan; switch from a 90-day retail drug refill to a 90-day mail order plan; increase the deductible from $400 to $500.

And in the health maintenance organization plan: Increase hospital copayments for singles and families from $50 to $100 and $100 to $200, respectively; increase doctor's office copayments for singles and families from $10 to $15 and $15 to $20, respectively.

After taking the option before representative members of her association, president Sharon Vandagriff said teachers found the plan unacceptable.

"They didn't support the options that were presented in this particular proposal," Ms. Vandagriff said, of the 2,007 association members who were polled. "Most comments were about the salary increase was not what they expected, or that the cost would increase too much, that it would hurt their incomes."

At one point, Mr. Smith started to suggest another option that might be more acceptable to members of the association. The revised plan included changes to the prescription drug plan, but not the increased premiums.

Ms. Vandagriff told Mr. Smith the premium increase was the bigger issue.

"I can't build your option for you," Ms. Vandagriff told Mr. Smith.

"Well, I'd like for you to put one on there," Mr. Smith shot back.

Once the negotiating teams decided they would not reach a conclusion Monday, finding a date to meet again also became an issue. Ms. Vandagriff said she had commitments and prior engagements every day until Dec. 10, and wouldn't be able to meet until then.

Assistant superintendent James Colbert, who has spoken up rarely during the health insurance negotiations, expressed his frustration.

"We've been working on this since March, and we cannot find one day before Dec. 10 for a group to meet? That's surprising," he said.

Ms. Vandagriff said she was concerned that Hamilton County's health insurance was more expensive than other school system's around the state, and she'd like time to research why. She also said any options the association might present, would likely include "baby steps" toward increasing employees' contribution to health insurance.

At the end of the meeting, both sides finally agreed that Mr. Smith would call Ms. Vandagriff today to set up another meeting date, hopefully before the end of the year.

WHAT'S NEXT

School system administrators plan to schedule another meeting with officials from the Hamilton County Education Association to try and reach a conclusion on health insurance before the end of the school year.