WEA President to Slater: We're Not Taking a Pay Freeze

Board of Education member-elect Mitch Slater's call for a teacher pay freeze and a reexamination of the recently ratified teachers' contract is a no go with the head of the teachers union.

Westfield Education Association President Kim Schumacher said that the contract is a finished issue and reiterated earlier comments that a salary freeze will not be happening in Westfield. Slater, the first place finisher in Tuesday's election, made the call for a restudy of the contract and a salary freeze in an interview the night of his election.

"We are not taking a pay freeze and not reopening the contract," Schumacher said. "We have a closed contract. He can scream and yell as much as he wants and it's not going to happen."

The contract, which was ratified by the board on March 9, contains a 3.9-percent salary increase and increased health care give backs and co-pays for teachers. The health care contributions are separate from the new law mandating public employees to contribute 1.5-percent of their health care costs. The new law, pushed by Gov. Chris Christie, was passed after the BOE approved the new contract with the WEA.

The contract has been a point of contention in public meetings on the school budget that was passed on Tuesday with Slater being an opponent during his campaign. Opponents of the contract said the raise is too high and called for a salary freeze. Schumacher has been consistent in her opposition to a pay freeze, which has been called for by Christie for school districts statewide. She noted that districts that took pay freezes did not see reductions in layoffs and there would be a negative impact on teacher pensions. During a town hall meeting on the budget last week, BOE Business Administrator Bob Berman said that a salary freeze could reduce Westfield's layoffs by 20 positions. Slater said in his post election comments that the current economy's impact on private sector pensions should be taken into account when looking at public sector pensions.

Slater is not the only person calling for teacher salary freezes in the wake of Tuesday's election. Christie and Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) have both called for salary freezes after 59-percent of school budgets failed statewide.

Schumacher, who said she was happy to see the budget pass, noted that she has not had a relationship with Slater in the past. She said that she would be open to talking with him about the teachers' contract and the pay freeze issue going forward.

"The board knows I am open to talking with them," Schumacher said. "If it is something he'd like to talk about, I'd be more than happy to discuss things with him."