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Elmira TA wins paid parental leave

Molly Belmont

ith the ratification of their latest contract, Elmira Teachers Association members are celebrating a defining achievement: six weeks of paid parental leave.

Elmira TA’s negotiating team group photo

Provided

Elmira TA’s negotiating team, from left, NYSUT labor relations specialist Deb Lloyd-Priest, Dan Knaisch, President Jennifer Clark, Jill Girardi, and Mandy Sullivan. Not pictured: Angela Dutton.

“That was something that we really wanted,” said Elmira TA President Jennifer Clark. “It’s a huge need in our district, and it was the morally right thing to do.”

Elmira has many young members who were starting families, but without a paid parental leave policy, they were being forced to use all their sick time. That was putting them at a disadvantage.

“To me, it’s all about equity,” said Clark. “You shouldn’t be punished for starting a family.”

Elmira is one of the first cities in the region to negotiate paid parental leave into their contract, and Clark said she hopes it will catch on elsewhere. “I hope that once they see we’ve done it, it will open the door for other districts,” she said.

In addition to the policy being a good recruiting tool, the deal the TA presented to the district — allocating 12 sick days and six weeks PPL to new hires and 16 sick days to existing members (or the option to have 12 sick days and PPL) — helps solve an ongoing dilemma: finding adequate coverage for absent teachers.

“The new policy is a win-win,” Clark said.

The local also scored a multitude of other wins, including increasing longevity payments, changing the salary schedule from 30 steps to 15 steps and adding more money to the first steps, and then adding percentage increases for members 16 steps and over. “Now, our teachers will be one of the highest in the region for starting salaries,” said Clark.

The union also helped double the pay for teachers covering classes, increasing the rate from $25 to $60, and increased teacher prep time from 30 minutes to 40 minutes.

The contract also includes new boons for special educators.

“We were finally able to get our special educators compensation for the additional responsibilities required by their case management obligations, which are in addition to their teaching responsibilities,” said Clark. “We were also able to get speech educators
session limits, which they didn’t have before.”

There will be a maximum of 40 speech sessions per week for speech language pathologists, and they will be paid the same rate as a teacher covering a 40-minute class for every session beyond that.

Clark attributes the successful contract to strong teamwork and the indispensable support of their NYSUT labor relations specialist, Deborah Lloyd-Priest. “We started early, and we had an amazing LRS who really helped us,” Clark said.

The result, she said, is a transformative contract that doesn’t just benefit her members, but members everywhere.

“I think this will have a cascade effect, and we’ll start seeing some of this in other schools, too,” she said, adding, “I think it’s going to help teachers overall.”

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