Present Progressive Vol. 9 July 17th 2013

After students weigh in, Kaplan contract talks get more civil

07/17/2013

Students from around the world studying English at Kaplan International Centers in New York City signed petitions on July 3 in support of their Guild-represented ESL teachers, who are bargaining for basic benefits like paid sick leave, health care and paid vacations. The following day, the school closed for Independence Day, a day for which the students paid, but teachers were not paid.

Slight improvement on pay, sick leaves

With Kaplan students calling on company management to treat their teachers fairly, first-contract negotiations for Guild-represented ESL teachers took on a more civil tone on Monday and led to something that had been largely missing since the talks began almost eight months ago: actual bargaining.

BARGAINING UPDATE

While there were no breakthroughs, and the two sides are still apart on several issues, management representatives for Kaplan International Centers (KIC) engaged in give-and-take discussions with the Guild negotiators and even revised some of their proposals, albeit only to bring them into compliance with the law and/or current conditions.

It was a marked departure from most previous sessions in which the management reps asked almost no questions about Guild proposals, preferring instead to confer among themselves and then silently issue written responses. From the Guild’s perspective, the development is significant since only a robust exchange can enable the two sides to fully understand one another’s needs, a prerequisite to any fair settlement.

Five Kaplan students from abroad who are studying English as a second language came to Monday's session to express support for their teachers and to deliver a petition – signed by more than 425 ESL students at KIC's three New York facilities – that urged management to improve pay and basic benefits.

“Negotiating a contract with Kaplan teachers that includes sick days, health care and fair pay for prep time will benefit teachers and students alike and make Kaplan the great learning center it claims to be,” said the petition, which was addressed to Kaplan CEO David Jones. The petition was presented to Jay Kennedy, management’s chief negotiator. A copy will be sent to Jones.

KIC teachers in New York currently make the $7.25 an hour federal minimum wage to prepare for classes and about 90 percent of them get no paid sick leave or health care coverage because they are considered part-time employees.

‘NO TEACHERS … NO KAPLAN’Before the start of bargaining, the students briefly addressed the four management reps at the table, calling on them to improve their teachers’ pay and benefits. They also complained about the high fees they were charged and at least one said he would urge the agent in Brazil who connected him with Kaplan to stop referring students to the school until the teachers’ employment conditions improve.

“Kaplan exists only because of the teachers,” the Brazilian student said. “If there are no teachers, there is no Kaplan.”

“This company could be better,” a Ukrainian student told the managers. “You really have to change the treatment, the attitude toward the teachers.”

Most of the student petition signatures were collected at lively and conspicuous events outside two of the three KIC facilities in New York on July 3. Teachers, some dressed in Independence Day celebratory garb, discussed their struggle to improve their pay and benefits with students in a festive atmosphere a day before school closed for a holiday for which students paid, but teachers received no pay, as one student noted (pictured at right).

At the table on Monday, management improved its pay and sick leave proposals, at least to bring them in line with what recently enacted legislation will soon require.

-- Pay. Management negotiators raised their proposed hourly prep time rate to $9, which is where the New York State minimum wage will be at the end of 2015, from $8, which would have run afoul of the state’s minimum wage law at the end of next year. They also upped their starting rate for teaching to $18 an hour, the rate the company already pays, from the $17 they had previously proposed. The Guild accepted management’s $18 starting rate, but stuck to its prep time pay proposal of the greater of $13 or half of a teacher’s teaching rate.

-- Sick Leave. Management improved its paid sick leave offer to comply with a New York City law that takes effect next April. Beginning April 1,  full-time and part-time teachers would accumulate one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours they work, up to a maximum of 40 hours per year, which could be carried over into the following year if they are not used. Part-timers currently get no paid sick leave. Given the law’s 40-hour annual carryover allowance, the Guild proposed an 80-hour maximum of paid sick leave that could be used in a given year and also proposed allowing teachers to apply their sick leave in increments of as little as three hours, the duration of a typical class. The management negotiators said they would respond later.  Under management’s proposal, full-time teachers would continue to receive six sick days a year until April 1, when they would be transitioned to the new sick leave plan.

-- Leaves of Absence. Management improved its offer to worsen the current KIC leave of absence policy. The current KIC policy allows all teachers to take unpaid leaves of up to 90 days. Management wants the ability to reduce maximum leave terms to 30 days during the contract, which it says is consistent with a company-wide policy change that is in the works. Before Monday, management had wanted to exclude part-timers from eligibility for leaves. Under its revised proposal, however, part-time teachers could take up to 30 days, the same as full-timers, when the new company-wide policy takes effect.  The Guild proposed making the maximum leave period 45 days when the new policy kicks in. In the meantime, however, management proposed that all teachers remain eligible to request leaves of up to 90 days.  

-- Surveillance and Drug Testing. Progress wasmade on both fronts. Management originally wanted the right to subject all teachers to random drug testing, but has since agreed to limit testing to instanceswhere triggering events give rise to reasonable suspicion of substance abuse. Similarly, surveillance equipment could be installed in work areas only as part of an investigation following an event that triggers reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing. The Guild will have a counter proposals aimed at safeguarding employee rights on both of these issues for the next session.

-- Bulletin Board. Management agreed to install bulletin boards for Guild business at its facilities.

No further bargaining sessions were scheduled at Monday’s session.

The Guild Bargaining Committee of KIC Teachers

Emily Lessem, Unit Chair
Michael Bennett
Jon Blanchette
Ben Bush
Shana Dagenhart
Jon Ellis