Lynn School Committee OKs controversial salary hikes

LYNN – The School Committee voted to approve small salary increases for three department employees, bringing an end to a year’s worth of disagreement on the committee and difficult collective bargaining negotiations with the administrators’ union.Assistant attendance and discipline specialists Matthew Durgin and George Bakas along with Transportation Department Head David Hegan all received raises in the area of $5,000-$7,000 as a result of the negotiations, a relatively small number considering the amount the union had initially requested.According to sources close to the negotiations, union representatives asked for nearly $450,000 for salary increases and title changes at the collective bargaining table more than a year ago – a number that was eventually whittled down by the School Committee to include only raises for Durgin, Bakas and Hegan.The three employees were seeking pay raises because their responsibility and workload had increased in recent years without the benefit of higher pay.The committee negotiated with the union several times each month in an effort to resolve the salary conflict, but the two sides did not come to terms on a deal until the final committee meeting of the season last week.The negotiations were held in executive session so the official results of the vote are not available until the committee releases the minutes, but committee members shared strong feelings on both sides of the argument in the days before the final meeting.Committee member Donna Coppola, opposed to the raises, attempted to block the School Committee from issuing any salary or stipend increases this summer by filing a motion immediately before the executive session meeting was to take place last week.Coppola said she could not support raises for any employee when teachers were being laid off due to a bad budget, and urged her colleagues to put an end to salary requests before it gets worse.While many agreed that it is not the time for raises, Coppola’s motion failed in part because it held no power when put against the state’s collective bargaining laws, which require the committee to at least sit down and negotiate possible raises with the union.Most committee members, including Committee Chairman Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr., said they were in support of the salary increases because the negotiations had gone on for so long, and the final cost to the city was miniscule compared to the union’s original request.”It comes down to a change in pay for three people, one of whom was having to work overtime anyway,” Clancy said. “Given the collective bargaining process I think we have made a fair agreement that has made everyone happy.”A budget deficit forced the school department to cut more than 130 jobs, including 92 licensed teachers, this summer. While Coppola stood up for the teachers in her attempt to prevent further salary increases, she voted against a motion by Clancy the following evening that would have cut two high-paid storekeepers in favor of re-hiring three to four teachers next year.