An ongoing labor dispute between Denver’s teachers and the district over changes to a pay plan heads today into mediation with a professional arbiter.
The possibility of a strike looms if agreement can’t be reached about Denver’s nationally lauded pay system, the Professional Compensation System for Teachers, or ProComp.
On Tuesday, teachers went door-to-door in neighborhoods near their schools armed with fliers to explain their side of the issue. This morning, they will hand out information to parents who come to schools.
“We’re telling our side of the story,” said Kim Ursetta, president of the 3,200-member Denver Classroom Teachers Association.
The master agreement for all of Denver’s 4,500 teachers, which doesn’t include ProComp, expires Aug. 31. Teachers also are negotiating issues such as planning time and more mentoring.
The DCTA’s newsletter in May said teachers should be prepared to strike, which hasn’t occurred in Denver Public Schools for 14 years. There has been labor discord over the years, but no strike.
A professional arbiter and negotiating teams will meet at Denver’s DoubleTree Hotel for sessions expected to last through Friday and possibly into Saturday.
“Our hope is to get a settlement by Friday so we could present a tentative agreement to our members,” Ursetta said. “Numberwise, it appears close, but philosophically, we’re still far apart.”
Denver teachers are scheduled to meet at 3 p.m. Sunday at South High School to vote on the outcome of the mediation.
The district believes there has been too much misinformation about the plan.
“We are looking forward to having more light and less heat,” said Tom Boasberg, DPS’s chief operating officer. “We are hopeful that mediation can lead both parties to focus on the facts and think carefully about what proposals will do the best job of attracting and retaining great teachers in our schools.”
The DPS plan would halt some of the raises built into ProComp after a teacher’s 13th year and continue to provide incentives for teaching at hard-to-serve schools; teaching tough classes, such as math or special ed; and being at high-performing schools.
The district wants more money for incentives, increasing them almost threefold to $2,900 apiece in an effort they say will better attract and keep younger teachers.
The union doesn’t want those ProComp raises removed for veteran teachers and is asking for a 3.5 percent raise for all teachers. They say removing the base-building elements will affect a teacher’s retirement and leave teachers unclear about how much money they will make year to year.
A strike would occur only after the contract runs out, which would be after Labor Day. A majority of union members would have to agree to a strike.
Ursetta, the DCTA president, said the union has been doing regular surveys of its membership to gauge where it stands on the issues and whether they would be willing to engage in “job actions.” She would not reveal the results.
Mediator Norman Brand said he hopes to get both sides to view the positions of the other.
“I don’t believe we have a Sunni-Shia conflict here,” Brand said. “People always see things differently. That’s normal. My job is to have them see it from the other side.”
Brand has mediated conflicts between the two parties before, and he believes both sides are reasonable.
“One thing I can say for certain: If we succeed, both parties will walk out of here unhappy,” he said. “They will have gotten what they need to go forward.”
Jeremy P. Meyer: 303-954-1367 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com
