By John Seasly, Staff Writer, The Record
GARFIELD — Nearly a year since the city teachers contract expired and after an apparent impasse in May, negotiations between the teachers union and the school board are continuing, the local union president said.
Rob Barbier, president of the Garfield Federation of Teachers, said the union’s latest proposal was under review by the Garfield Board of Education. School board members, citing the confidentiality of negotiations, declined to comment, except to confirm that a contract has yet to be settled.
Nearly 800 teachers, paraprofessionals and other school employees belong to the GFT. Their previous contract expired on June 30, 2014. Without a contract, Garfield teachers cannot receive a raise, though their health care costs have increased.
“We’re not looking for huge increases in salary, we’re just looking for status quo,” said Barbier, who is one of the lead negotiators.
In May, the school board and the GFT reached an agreement, Barbier said, though it was rejected by state monitor Angelo DeSimone. About 65 percent of funding for Garfield public schools comes from the state, according to the 2014-15 budget.
DeSimone expressed concern about the future of state funding, Barbier said, which adds to the difficulty of negotiating a three-year contract. DeSimone did not respond to requests for comment by presstime.
The school board and the GFT declared an impasse, “which essentially means that we agreed that we couldn’t agree,” said Nat Bender, a spokesman for the American Federation of Teachers New Jersey.
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