Present Progressive No. 6 April 30th (& Management's Update)

Kaplan tells teachers:

‘Prepare to be insulted'

A seismic Guild move meets a management tremor

Guild negotiators last week took a substantial step toward Kaplan management’s economic position. Management’s response, however, could be measured with a micrometer.  

BARGAINING UPDATE

We lowered the rates for all three of our proposed teaching categories by $3, which cut our starting rate to $23 an hour. More importantly, we proposed for the first time a new lower rate for prep time and all other non-teaching duties of $14 an hour, or 50 percent of the applicable teaching rate, whichever is greater. This is major shift from our initial wage proposal, in which we wanted a single rate that would cover teaching and all other responsibilities.

At the April 22 bargaining session, we also proposed the Guild’s health insurance plan for both full-time and part-time teachers. This non-profit plan uses the Blue Cross and Blue Shield provider network, which makes more doctors and hospitals available to its users than any other insurance network in the country. And the plan’s rates are more affordable than Kaplan International Centers (KIC) currently offers full-time teachers.

After caucusing over our heavily revised economic package, management negotiators returned with their same wage proposal, but with one minor tweak: They upped their hourly prep rate to $8 from the $7.25 federal minimum wage we currently get. Their proposed starting rate for teaching is still $17 an hour, less than any New York KIC teacher makes.

After all the movement we made to our economic proposals, management came back with only a 75-cent increase in its prep rate. And that can hardly be viewed as movement since New York’s minimum wage will likely increase next year to $8.75. And let’s not forget that KIC raised its prep rate to $12 an hour in every city except New York not long after we voted for Guild representation last year.

We told management negotiators their $8 prep time rate was insulting, to which lead management negotiator Jay Kennedy replied, “Prepare to be insulted.”

Once again, management also neglected to offer sick time, holidays or vacations to the 90 percent of us who are part time. Nor did management address our proposals for experience-based pay increases. “We are not interested in paying someone for being here longer,” said Kennedy. Management only wants increases that would be at its discretion, which means no guaranteed raises.

The management negotiators repeated their mantra about how a contract would tie their hands, which has been their standard excuse for refusing to raise the current New York prep rates (which, as we pointed out, were raised significantly in other parts of the country due to our organizing). When pressed for examples of how the contract could end up tying management’s hands, Kennedy pointed to our unwillingness to accept language that would allow KIC to subcontract teaching work. Yet he could not produce any examples of any KIC school ever using sub-contractors. We also pointed out that the current rate of pay is not a livable wage and even full-time teachers need to work second jobs to make ends meet. Kennedy, however, insisted that Kaplan is paying a livable wage.

Since KIC refused to reasonably discuss wages and benefits, talks ended for the day. We hope that by our next session on May 7 management negotiators will have reviewed the Guild’s health care proposal and will be more open to actually negotiating a fair contract.

– The Guild Bargaining Committee

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Corresponding email update from management:

Setting the Record Straight After Another Day of Pointless Rhetoric and Little Progress

KIC and the Guild met for bargaining on April 22, 2013 for the first time in over a month.   Unfortunately, we made little progress in our negotiations.  This update will be lengthier than usual, because we think it’s important to give you the facts about the status of our bargaining with the Guild.

                “Contractual Minimum” and New Hire Rates

For much of last week’s session, the Guild persisted in mischaracterizing KIC’s opening wage proposal, arguing that KIC has proposed to “cut” teaching rates in New York.  Nothing could be further from the truth, and the Guild – which negotiates “contractual minimums” all the time – knows better.

KIC’s wage proposal includes a common and simple structure that provides for a “contractual minimum” teaching rate of $17/hour – the floor below which no new teacher can be hired or no teacher can be paid.  This “new hire” or “contract minimum” rate is based on market and occupational realities.  Here are the facts that we’ve repeatedly conveyed to the Guild about this rate:

·         KIC’s proposed new hire rate of $17/hour is simply a “minimum.”  That means, as KIC’s proposal explicitly states, that KIC can – and does – hire and pay teachers above this minimum rate based on their skills and experience.

·         KIC’s proposed new hire rate of $17/hour is in line with the rates that other ESL schools in New York pay their teachers.  In fact, we gave the Guild information showing that new hire rates for ESL teachers in New York range from $12 to $20 per hour, with $17/hour an often-quoted new hire rate. 

·         KIC’s proposed new hire rate is also consistent with what KIC pays new teachers elsewhere in the country.  Those rates vary from school to school, based on the markets where they operate, but KIC’s schools have new hire rates that range from $16 to $19.50/hour – averaging about $17.50/hour.

KIC has made clear to the Guild that this “contract minimum” has no impact on any current KIC teachers.  Most KIC teachers in New York are paid well above the $17 “minimum” rate – on average $21/hour – and KIC has proposed to continue paying current employees a teaching rate that is no less than the rate that they earn today.   KIC’s proposal also makes clear that KIC intends to continue paying merit increases to teachers based on their performance. 

                We understand that the Guild wants to guarantee unrealistically high rates for unit teachers, with lock-step guaranteed increases year after year that would fix teaching rates between $28.94/hour and $39.36/hour at the end of the contract.  But the Guild’s proposal is neither reasonable nor consistent with our ESL business.   Our business is not fixed or guaranteed, since student enrollment and classes fluctuate week to week.  Building unrealistically high pay rates into a multi-year labor contract is thus not a responsible business proposition.  Nor is it consistent with KIC’s commitment to rewarding teachers with merit pay based on their performance, rather than simply years in the job. 

  

                        Non-Teaching Rates

We thought we were poised for a little progress this week on non-teaching rates, after the Guild made a proposal acknowledging KIC’s long-standing pay arrangements for prep time and other non-teaching work.  KIC quickly responded with a proposal signaling its willingness to increase the prep time rate for New York teachers from the current minimum wage to $8.00 per hour.

Rather than respond constructively, the Guild profanely rejected KIC’s proposal – and then wasted the rest of the day complaining about what KIC has done for teachers outside New York.  We’ve repeatedly told the Guild why KIC did not unilaterally increase prep time rates for New York teachers when it increased those rates at other KIC locations outside of New York.   We want you to know what we have said to the Guild about that:

                First of all, KIC has a legal obligation to negotiate wages, including prep time and other non-teaching rates, for its New York teachers with the Guild as their bargaining representative.  KIC simply does not have the flexibility to roll out increases unilaterally for represented teachers in New York, unlike KIC teachers elsewhere.  Nor does it make sense for KIC to make that kind of an economic change unilaterally while the parties are at the table bargaining over the economic terms of a contract.

                Second, KIC has to consider any increases in teaching and non-teaching rates in the context of the costs and restrictions that the Guild wants to impose on KIC as part of an overall labor contract.   The Guild has insisted on things like limiting KIC’s rights to assign work flexibly, restricting KIC from subcontracting work where it makes sense, requiring KIC to conduct layoffs based on seniority rather than skills, and requiring KIC to provide significant paid time off and fully-paid benefits to all teachers.   Those types of proposals would add substantial costs to KIC’s operations in New York, and they thus have a direct impact on the wages that KIC will be willing to negotiate into a multi-year labor contract covering New York teachers.

Those are the realities of bargaining.  Bargaining a contract requires balancing the economic interests of both the employer and its employees – and wages, prep time rates, benefits and operational flexibility are all part of that economic balance.   It’s unproductive and misleading for the Guild to complain about KIC’s decision to increase prep rates at schools outside of New York, where KIC has the flexibility to act unilaterally, while KIC is currently at the table with the Guild to negotiate over precisely those issues for its teachers in New York.

                                                A Word About Pace

                At the last bargaining session, teachers on the committee expressed frustration with the pace of negotiations.  Since the parties began negotiations in November 2012, KIC and the Guild have met seven times for on-the-record bargaining.  We had certainly hoped for more progress toward a contract by now.  But bargaining is a bilateral process – requiring both parties to meet at reasonable times.  For our part, we’ve offered the Guild multiple dates for bargaining over the past six months, and we’ve been available whenever the Guild has asked to meet.  KIC has cancelled no sessions, and cut no sessions short.   And we’ve come to every meeting prepared to discuss and exchange contract proposals.  We can’t say the same thing about the Guild, which has, on more than one occasion, truncated valuable table time with wasteful theatrics and delay tactics.

The sooner the Guild abandons these diversions and focuses on the task at hand in New York, the sooner the parties will be able to find a path to an agreement that balances the interests of both KIC and its employees.   The parties are set to meet again on May 7, and we hope to see progress.

KIC’s Bargaining Committee