November updates

Our tentative agreement was ratified by the School Committee two weeks ago and goes to the City Council for a vote tomorrow. We have spoken with City Council President Stephen Murphy and expect that all will go smoothly. We thank the council and the council president for their help.

The pay increase for all members is scheduled to be in place by the end of November, and the retroactive is slated to be paid before the winter break.

By the way, the new hourly rate as of November 1, 2012 is $42.49; the hourly rate in effect from November 1, 2011 through October 31, 2012 was $41.65. People who have worked in any capacity at a lower contractual hourly rate from November 1, 2011 to the present will at some point receive a retroactive check for the difference. That includes people who have retired. It also means that schools that have privately used school funds to pay staff for work done at the old contractual hourly rate owe retroactive amounts to their staff.

Incidentally, people who have retired will receive a retroactive check for all monies due if they worked at some point from November 1, 2011 through the present. This includes salary and severance. And their retirement pension checks, too, will be adjusted. Some of these changes will take a little time, but all will be accomplished and all will be retroactive.

We want to give a deserved and hearty shout out to the payroll department for their work in all of the above, as some of the retroactive amounts are scattered here, there, and everywhere. The payroll department works behind the scenes by and large, and we don’t hear very much about them — but payroll department staff work to make sure that all of this is done as seamlessly as possible. We appreciate their work.

BTU Homework Helpers who worked last year will get a retroactive check as well.

We have revised our summary of the main contract items a bit, and you may read the revised summary on the BTU website. A summary of the new items will be mailed to all members shortly.