CUSD/CSEA

District – CSEA Chapter 250 Negotiations Update: May 2024

The end of the school year is fast approaching, and all District employees play a critical role in making it a success! The District recognizes that as we prepare for the end of the 2023-2024 year we also are in month 10 of negotiations with CSEA Chapter 250, and this update provides information about the status of negotiations between the District and CSEA Chapter 250.

Since we entered into negotiations, CSEA Chapter 250 and the District have met 28 times in an effort to reach mutual agreement over a new contract. On March 14, 2024, CUSD was informed that the Chapter 250 bargaining team and executive board were removed by the state CSEA and Chapter 250 had been placed in “Administratorship” status. At that time, an individual from within the CSEA organization, Estella Kessler was appointed as administrator for Chapter 250.

After that, CUSD negotiators met twice with three state CSEA representatives who took over the negotiations on behalf of local Chapter 250 members. These meetings resulted in the tentative agreement between the CSEA Chapter 250 negotiating team and the District that was rejected by CSEA voting membership on April 4.

On April 26, 2024, CSEA informed CUSD that it had appointed a new negotiating team for Chapter 250 that includes five CUSD employees. Labor Representative Ernest Grijalva, Estella Kessler, and CSEA Senior Labor Representative Lucas Long now round out the Chapter 250 negotiating team.

CUSD and Chapter 250 representatives met on April 29, 2024, at which time the District hoped for clarification on the unexpected changes in Chapter 250 leadership and how that might have impacted the tentative agreement. No clarification was provided by CSEA.

At this point, CUSD and Chapter 250 continue to meet to discuss the contract and have additional meeting dates as early as next week. Here are some important facts to share:

In Summary:

The May 2021 MOU regarding a “Me Too” was signed when CSEA Chapter 250 was the only existing and recognized employee organization who had the right to negotiate its own CBA.

CSEA Chapter 250 received the same salary increase as any other employee organization for the 2020-2021, 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years based on the “Me Too” MOU.

CSEA Chapter 250 received all salary schedule increases resulting from the Market Study based on the Market Study MOU that was signed February 2023.

In May 2023, CSEA Chapter 250 representatives were offered the opportunity to accept the 5.5% salary increase provided to other employee groups at that time. This opportunity was rejected by CSEA Chapter 250 and the CBA was reopened for negotiations.