Secretaries protest contract proposal
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

The Amherst Office Personnel Association has been without a contract for 18 months, and members have gone public to show their frustration.

AOPA members voiced their concerns with an informational picket at the beginning of the Jan. 23 Amherst Central School Board meeting. About 50 people, including several district teachers, attended to support the AOPA.

"After almost two years of negotiations, we now feel it necessary to publicly speak out about the district's failure to respond to our continual efforts to resolve this situation," said Mary Biesinger, union co-president, in a prepared statement.

The association had planned to start informational picketing before the high school's open house on Jan. 18 but were asked not to, because the district was trying to showcase the high school, Biesinger added.

The major sticking point between the AOPA and district administrators is agreeing on a contract that would not raise health insurance premiums.

"When the district switched to one health insurance provider, the premiums and co-pays are all much higher than the language in our contract," said union co-President Gina Santa Maria.

Santa Maria said the AOPA sent six contract proposals to the board from last June through December.

Biesinger said the AOPA has worked with an arbitrator and a state-appointed fact finder, but the district's latest offer in December would actually have a negative impact on its members.

Dave Ulrich, a high school social studies teacher and president of the Amherst Education Association, said he is concerned that district secretaries are victims of confidence and anonymity.

"Often the only time you hear of a secretary is when they're doing something wrong," he said. "I think we can vouch for the fact that our secretaries are performing a job where they're seldom making mistakes ... plus parents are less likely to hear from their sons or daughters the wonderful things the secretaries are doing day in and day out."

"Despite the fact they're, for the last year and a half, working without a contract, they continue to do the same excellent kind of job supporting us," Ulrich added.

School Board President William T. Blanford said the board does not discuss negotiations in public, noting that both sides are negotiating in good faith.