During its monthly board meeting Monday, Jan. 19, Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency officials updated trustees on negotiations.
The update was simple: the union and KRESA cannot agree on how contract disputes will be settled.
The union said a neutral third party should settle them, but KRESA wants disputes to go to local courts.
Noreen Heikes is a veterinary instructor at KRESA’s career connect campus, and a member of the instructors' union.
She said working with a third party, known as binding arbitration, would help KRESA and the union settle disputes fairly.
"Arbitration would simply give us the access to a neutral party who could settle to help us settle disputes fairly," Heikes said.
"Not always probably in the way that the union wants and probably not always the way that administration wants, but someone neutral who can, when we have a disagreement, find a fair middle ground."
Union representatives also said this kind of dispute resolution is common in education-related union contracts in Michigan.
KRESA Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Meredith Lewis agreed with this, but added that this doesn't mean the agency has to follow suit.
"We are aware of other districts that do not have it. So, there are exceptions to the rule," Lewis said.
“We are trying to create a contract just like we're trying to create a school, a career tech center that's a little bit different than what most districts have."
Lewis added that KRESA's current dispute resolution process is better for employees.
"We have 750 employees across this agency. The bargaining unit only makes up about 29 of those people. And so to have one process for such a small minority simply wouldn't be fair and equitable to the rest of our staff," Lewis said.
"The other main reason is that we have a proven process that has worked well for us for many many many years. And so to change the process simply because the union is demanding it or it's just because what everybody else does, just isn't reason enough for us to make such a significant change."
Tom Greig is with the Michigan Education Association, which has been assisting the instructors’ union in its negotiations.
He said the union had offered compromises on binding arbitration during negotiations, which KRESA shot down. He accused the agency of stalling.
“They found an issue that we wouldn't cross and they're using that issue to stall this union," Greig said.
"If we would have said we are not settling because we want to be able to bargain evaluations, they would be saying, evaluations are the most important thing to us and we're not going to do that.”
Now that KRESA has declared an impasse, it will enforce its final proposal to the full extent allowed by law.
The agency says under this enforcement, union instructors will receive pay increases and back pay.
A hearing on unfair labor practice complaints that the union filed against KRESA is scheduled for February 19th.
Michael Symonds reports for WMUK through the Report for America national service program.
