Teachers wait, wish, hope for back pay

FRANKLIN TWP. | Warren County Technical School teachers waiting for more than $6,000 apiece in back pay will have to wait a little longer.

A week after administrators signed and approved a contract that was two years in the making, union officials say they're being told back-pay checks won't be issued until after the next school board meeting on July 16.

Teachers, long frustrated by the pace of negotiations, aren't pleased.

"Teachers are expecting their back pay," said Ed Yarusinsky, president of the Warren Tech Education Association. "They've been waiting two years. It's been a hardship already.

"Is this just another power play, another attempt to stall? Or is it another example of incompetence? A mistake is a mistake, but after two dang years, enough is enough."

School Business Administrator Edmund Zalewski said the school board has to approve salary guides -- the steps of pay teachers receive based on their experience. County schools business administrator Neil Cramer recommended the move after being asked to review the process, Zalewski said.

Cramer couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday.

Yarusinsky said the salary guides already are part of the contract approved last week.

John Ropars, a field representative for the New Jersey Education Association who was involved in negotiating the contract, said such a move was unnecessary.

"There are no laws, statutes, regulations or anything that require this step," Ropars said. "I've been negotiating contracts in New Jersey for eight years. Nobody who I ever dealt with has ever done this."

Yarusinsky said it's emblematic of the contract saga. Teachers, who haven't gotten a raise since 2005-06, are due about $6,200 in back pay under the new deal.

The agreement covers four years and about 45 teachers, as well as custodial staff, maintenance staff and secretaries. It runs through 2009-10.

"We felt everything was over way, way back," Yarusinsky said. "Issues of money, insurance -- everything's done. It's all this piddling crap that they keep coming up with."

Neither Zalewski nor Chief School Administrator Robert Glowacky could cite a law requiring the added step.

Glowacky said administrators were simply making sure all their bases were covered, not deliberately prolonging the process.

"We're not the longshoremen here," he said. "We're just a bunch of teachers. We should be doing things on a friendly basis and in the best interests of the kids. I don't want to open old wounds.

"People have their money coming. It's going to happen."