Wapato Association of Educational Office Personnel (WAEOP)
2021 Full Open Contract Negotiations Summary
11-18-21 (Second Mediation Session)
The Wapato School District (WSD) and Wapato Association of Educational Office Personnel (WAEOP) are currently involved in the process of negotiating a full open contract. The process started in March of 2021. The negotiating teams met several times between March and September of 2021. In late September the two teams agreed to seek the assistance of a mediator to help reach an agreement. The 11/18/21 mediation session started by the teams working through the mediator to clean up language contained in the collective bargaining agreement (CBA). Once there was consensus by both teams regarding the contract language, negotiations transitioned to reaching an agreement on a salary schedule. Progress was made and the session ended with the teams also reaching consensus on a salary schedule which ultimately resulted in a tentative agreement (TA) on a four(4)-year collective bargaining agreement (September 1, 2021-August 31, 2025). The WAEOP membership will take a vote on the tentative CBA agreement on a yet to be determined date. If it is ratified by the WAEOP membership the Wapato School Board will then vote on the tentative agreement during a Board meeting.
11-10-21 (First Mediation Session)
The Wapato School District (WSD) and Wapato Association of Educational Office Personnel (WAEOP) are currently involved in the process of negotiating a full open contract. The process started in March of 2021. The negotiating teams met several times between March and September of 2021. During the last bargaining session on 9/30/21 the WAEOP team requested that mediation be used as a means to help reach an agreement. The WSD obliged and the first mediation session was held on 11/10/21. The session started by the WAEOP team, through the use of the mediator, submitting a supposal. A supposal in negotiations is a method where each side explores the possibility of a position and the response to that position without making a formal proposal...e.g: “If we do this, will you agree
to that?” The WSD team countered the supposal with a full contract proposal. The session ended with no resolution. A date of 11/18/21 was set for the next mediation session.
10-6-21
The Wapato School District (WSD) and Wapato Association of Educational Office Personnel (WAEOP) are currently involved in the process of negotiating a full open contract. The process started in March of 2021. The negotiating teams met several times between March and September of 2021. The most recent meeting between the WSD and WAEOP bargaining teams was September 30, 2021. The WSD team was prepared for the WAEOP team to submit a counter-proposal to the proposal the WSD team has submitted at the end of the previous bargaining session on September 23, 2021. Instead, the WAEOP team started the session by immediately requesting that mediation be used as a means to help reach an agreement. The process of arranging for a mediator is underway. A date has not yet been set for the first mediation session.
9-29-21
The Wapato School District (WSD) and Wapato Association of Educational Office Personnel (WAEOP) are currently involved in the process of negotiating a full open contract. The process started in March of 2021. The negotiating teams met several times between March and June of 2021. In June a decision was made to pause negotiations and resume sometime in late summer or early fall of 2021. The WSD and WAEOP bargaining teams met on September 23, 2021 to continue the negotiation process. The session started with the WAEOP team submitting a full contract proposal. This was a counter-proposal to one the WSD team submitted the last time the teams met in early June. The WSD team then submitted a counter-proposal and the session ended with the teams agreeing to meet again on September 30th.
7-2-21
The Wapato School District (WSD) and Wapato Association of Educational Office Personnel (WAEOP) are currently in year three of a 3-year collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The current agreement is scheduled to end on August 31, 2021. In anticipation of the current CBA expiring at the end of August bargaining teams for both parties have been engaged in the process of negotiating a new CBA. The WSD and WAEOP bargaining teams were scheduled June 24, 2021 to continue the negotiation process. Through an email exchange prior to that date the negotiating teams agreed to put a pause on bargaining and tentatively agreed to resume negotiations on August 19, 2021.
6-8-21
The Wapato School District (WSD) and Wapato Association of Educational Office Personnel (WAEOP) are currently in year three of a 3-year collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The current agreement is scheduled to end on August 31, 2021. In anticipation of the current CBA expiring at the end of August bargaining teams for both parties have engaged in the process of negotiating a new CBA. The WSD and WAEOP bargaining teams met on June 8th to continue the negotiation process. The session started with the WSD team submitting a full counter-proposal to the proposal the WAEOP team submitted during the last session. The WAEOP team then countered with a proposal which included the re-submission of a salary schedule that was the same as the most current one they had previously submitted in the bargaining process. The session ended with the two teams agreeing to meet again on June 24.
5-13-21
The Wapato School District (WSD) and Wapato Association of Educational Office Personnel (WAEOP) are currently in year three of a 3-year collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The current agreement is scheduled to end on August 31, 2021. In anticipation of the current CBA expiring at the end of August bargaining teams for both parties have engaged in the process of negotiating a new CBA.The teams met on May 13, 2021 to continue the negotiations process. During the session WAEOP team provided the WSD team a full counter proposal. The proposal reflected the information contained in the partial proposal submitted by the WAEOP team during the May 6th session. It also included a proposed salary schedule. The session ended with the teams agreeing to meet for their next bargaining session on May 27, 2021.
5-6-21
The Wapato School District (WSD) and Wapato Association of Educational Office Personnel (WAEOP) are currently in year three of a 3-year collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The current agreement is scheduled to end on August 31, 2021. In anticipation of the current CBA expiring at the end of August bargaining teams for both parties have engaged in the process of negotiating a new CBA.The teams met on May 6, 2021 to continue the negotiations process. During the session the WSD team provided the WAEOP team with a counter proposal to the one submitted by WAEOP during the May 4 bargaining session. The WAEOP team then provided a partial counter proposal. The session ended with the teams agreeing to meet for their next bargaining session on May 13, 2021.
5-4-21
The Wapato School District and Wapato Association of Educational Office Personnel (WAEOP) are currently in year three of a 3-year collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The current agreement is scheduled to end on August 31, 2021. In anticipation of the current CBA expiring at the end of August bargaining teams for both parties have engaged in the process of negotiating a new CBA.
Summary of 2018-2019 Negotiations
5-29-19 Eighth Mediation Session Results in Tentative Agreement
The Wapato School District (WSD) and Wapato Association of Educational Office Personnel (WAEOP) bargaining teams continued their negotiations of a full open contract through the use of a mediator May 29, 2019. The session resulted in a tentative agreement (TA) on a three (3) year collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The years included in the TA are 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021. The tentative agreement also includes a new salary schedule for WAEOP members which, if/when the tentative agreement is ratified by a vote of the WAEOP membership and by the Wapato School Board of Directors, the members will receive retro compensation for the 2018-2019 year starting from September 1, 2018.
The tentative agreement outlined above will not be made formal until ratified by both the WAEOP membership and the Wapato School Board of Directors. However, the WSD bargaining team and District leadership would like to thank the WAEOP bargaining team for its hard work and commitment to the process of reaching an agreement that is fair and equitable for all involved.
4-30-19 (Seventh Mediation Session)
The Wapato School District (WSD) and Wapato Association of Educational Office Personnel (WAEOP) bargaining teams continued their negotiations of a full open contract through the use of a mediator on Wednesday, April 30, 2019. The focus of the bargaining continues to be on a salary schedule that is fair, equitable and sustainable. The salary schedule proposals submitted by the WAEOP team during this session reflected a decrease from its previous proposal and the WSD salary schedule proposals offered during this session reflected an increase from its previous proposal. However, this mediation session did not result in a tentative agreement (TA) for a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) so the teams plan to meet again through the use of a mediator in late May 2019.
4-10-19 (Sixth Mediation Session)
The Wapato School District (WSD) and Wapato Association of Educational Office Personnel (WAEOP) bargaining teams continued their negotiations of a full open contract through the use of a mediator on Wednesday, April 10, 2019. This session started with the WAEOP team submitting a salary schedule proposal that was a counter proposal to the one the WSD team submitted before the close of the mediation session that took place April 8, 2019. The WAEOP offer reflected a decrease for years two (2019-2020) and three (2020-2021) of a proposed three year collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The WSD team then countered with a proposal that reflected an overall increase of the salary schedule. Prior to the end of this mediation session the WAEOP team countered with another proposal which reflected a decrease in years two and three. The WAEOP proposal also included an adjustment in the salary schedule steps. This session did not result in a tentative agreement (TA) for a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) so the teams agreed to meet again through the use of the mediator on April 30, 2019.
4-8-19 (Fifth Mediation Session)
The Wapato School District (WSD) and Wapato Association of Educational Office Personnel (WAEOP) bargaining teams continued their negotiations of a full open contract through the use of a mediator on Monday, April 8, 2019. At this point in the bargaining most of the negotiation is focused on compensation. This session included the WSD team submitting a salary schedule proposal which reflected an increase over its previous offer for each year of a three year (2018-2019) (2019-2020) (2020-2021) collective bargaining agreement proposal. The WAEOP team countered with a salary schedule proposal which reflected a decrease in years two (2019-2020) and three (2020-2021) from its previous offer. The WAEOP proposal also reflected a decrease from its previous offer in one of the steps of the salary schedule. The WSD team then countered with a proposal which resulted in an increase from its previous offer in the total amount of compensation over the course of the three year proposal. This session did not result in a tentative agreement (TA) for a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) so the teams agreed to meet again on Wednesday, April 10, 2019.
2-26-19 (Fourth Mediation Session)
The Wapato School District (WSD) and Wapato Association of Educational Office Personnel (WAEOP) bargaining teams continued their negotiations of a full open contract through the use of a mediator on Tuesday, February 26, 2019. This was the fourth bargaining session facilitated with the use of a mediator. This session included the WAEOP team submitting a salary schedule proposal that was a counter offer to the last proposal submitted by the WSD team during the January 31, 2019 bargaining session. The WAEOP proposal reflected a decrease in years 2 and 3 of a proposed three year collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The WSD team countered with a salary schedule proposal that reflected an increase in years 2 and 3. Before the session ended the WAEOP team submitted another salary schedule counter proposal. This session did not result in a tentative agreement (TA) for a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) so the teams agreed to meet again on Monday, April 8, 2019.
1-31-19 (Third Mediation Session)
The Wapato School District (WSD) and Wapato Association of Educational Office Personnel (WAEOP) bargaining teams continued their negotiations of a full open contract through the use of a mediator on Thursday, January 31, 2019. This was the third bargaining session facilitated with the use of a mediator. This session resulted in the teams reaching a tentative agreement (TA) for language included in Article 6, Section 1, Sub-Section B which speaks to Hours of Work. The session also included the WSD team submitting a salary schedule proposal that was counter to the latest WAEOP salary proposal made during the January 9, 2019 session. The WAEOP team then countered with a salary schedule proposal to which the WSD team countered before the session ended without reaching a TA for a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The teams agreed to continue mediation bargaining on Tuesday, February 26, 2019.
1-9-19 (Second Mediation Session)
The Wapato School District (WSD) and Wapato Association of Educational Office Personnel (WAEOP) bargaining teams continued their negotiations of a full open contract through the use of a mediator on Wednesday, January 9, 2019. This was the second bargaining session facilitated with the use of a mediator. During the session the WAEOP team submitted its latest salary schedule proposal. The WSD team countered with a salary schedule proposal and before the session ended the WAEOP team submitted another salary schedule counter proposal which included a decrease in parts of the schedule. This session did not result in a tentative agreement (TA) for a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) so the teams agreed to meet again on Thursday, January 31, 2019.
1-7-19 (First Mediation Session)
The Wapato School District (WSD) and Wapato Association of Educational Office Personnel (WAEOP) bargaining teams continued their negotiations of a full open contract through the use of a mediator on Monday, January 7, 2019. This was the first mediation session since both teams jointly agreed in late October of 2018 to continue negotiations with help of a mediator. The session resulted in reaching a tentative agreement (TA) regarding language in Article 5, Section 2 of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) which speaks to Sick Leave Cash-Out. There was also a TA reached on language in Article 6, Section 3, Sub-Section D which deals with Inflationary Increases when it comes to Salaries/Benefits/Working Conditions. The teams also reached a TA on a memorandum of understanding (MOU) which deals with Staff Safety-Student Supervision. As part of this session each team submitted a salary schedule proposal. The WSD proposal reflected an increase from its previous proposal and the WAEOP proposal reflected a decrease from its previous proposal. This session did not result in a TA for a new CBA so the teams agreed to meet again on Wednesday, January 9, 2019.
10-23-18
On the afternoon of October 23, 2018 the Wapato School District (WSD) and Wapato Association of Educational Office Personnel (WAEOP) bargaining teams met to continue negotiating a full open contract. During the session the teams reached a tentative agreement (TA) on Article 5, Section 6 of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) which deals with “Maternity and Child Care Leave”. Each team also submitted salary schedule proposals which reflected no change from the previous schedule each of the teams submitted during the bargaining session that took place on September 28, 2018. As a result the WAEOP team indicated to the WSD that it appeared negotiations had reached a standstill and engaged the WSD team in a discussion about jointly seeking mediation as a means to help reach an agreement. The WSD team agreed to jointly request mediation. The District is looking forward to an expedient and fair resolution for all during this next step in the negotiations process.
9-28-18
The Wapato School District (WSD) and Wapato Association of Educational Office Personnel (WAEOP) bargaining teams met on Friday, September 28, 2018 to continue the work of negotiating a full open contract. The session resulted in the teams reaching more tentative agreements (TA) in various parts of the collective bargaining agreement being negotiated. The tentative agreements are as follows: Article 2, Section 2, Subsections K & L regarding Association Rights; Article 3, Section 9a, Subsection E regarding Seniority; Article 5, Section 1, Subsection J which deals with Sick Leave; Article 6, Section 10, Subsections A & B which speaks to WAEOP members reporting to work on Inclement Weather Days. The Inclement Weather Days section is a new section being added to the collective bargaining agreement. This bargaining session also included the WSD team presenting a salary schedule proposal that was a counter proposal to the one the WAEOP team submitted during the September 21, 2018 bargaining session. The WSD salary schedule proposal reflected an increase from the last WSD salary schedule proposal submitted during the July 10, 2018 bargaining session. The WSD proposal also included the addition of some longevity steps to the salary schedule model currently being followed (seen below). Both the WSD and WAEOP proposals included an education stipend. Before the session ended the WAEOP team presented a salary schedule counter proposal. The two teams are scheduled to continue negotiations on October 23rd.
9-21-18
The Wapato School District (WSD) and the Wapato Association of Educational Office Personnel (WAEOP) continued their work on September 20, 2018 of negotiating a full open contract. During this session each team submitted a total of two proposals. The session resulted in continued progress as the bargaining teams reached two more tentative agreements regarding revisions to parts of the existing collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The first is in Article 3, Section 6a, Subsection (2) which deals with Employee Transfers. The other tentative agreement applies to Article 5, Section 1, Subsection (G) which deals with Sick Leave. This bargaining session also resulted in both teams withdrawing items that had been included in previous proposals made by each side. The withdrawals were made as a way to keep the good faith bargaining process moving forward. The second of the two proposals submitted by the WAEOP team included a salary schedule proposal that was counter to the salary schedule the WSD team proposed at the July 10, 2018 bargaining session. The two teams are scheduled to continue the negotiations at a session on September 28, 2018.
7-19-18:
The Wapato School District (WSD) and the Wapato Association of Educational Office Personnel (WAEOP) continued their work of negotiating a full open contract on July 19, 2018. This session resulted in more progress as the two teams reached a tentative agreement (TA) which adds a section to Article III of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The new section is 11A and it speaks to New Training. During this bargaining session the WSD also provided the WAEOP team with a presentation regarding general revenue/expenditure budget information for the WSD. The WSD and WAEOP teams will resume negotiations in September.
7-10-18:
The July 10, 2018 bargaining session between the Wapato School District (WSD) and Wapato Association of Educational Office Personnel teams resulted in continued progress as the teams negotiate the full open contract. The teams reached a tentative agreement (TA) in Article II, Section 5A&B of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) which deals with Association Leave. They also reached a TA in Article V, Section 3B which speaks to Leave Sharing. This session also included the WSD team providing the WAEOP team with a salary schedule proposal which is a counter proposal to the WAEOP team’s initial salary schedule proposal the WSD team received during the June 29, 2018 bargaining session.
6-29-18:
The Wapato School District (WSD) and Wapato Association of Educational Office Personnel (WAEOP) negotiating teams conducted their initial bargaining session on June 29, 2018. This session resulted in the two teams reaching a tentative agreement (TA) regarding Article II, Section 2J which deals with Association Rights. The WAEOP team also provided the WSD team with its initial salary schedule proposal.
6-15-18: