The Hayward Unified School District (HUSD) is entering into collective bargaining with its four employee bargaining units: Hayward Education Association (HEA), Association of Educational Office and Technical Employees (AEOTE), Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Safeco/M&O, and SEIU Para-YEP. The collective bargaining process allows public school employees to bargain with their school district regarding salary, benefits, and other employment-related issues. Each contract is negotiated separately with the bargaining unit’s respective negotiating team. HUSD, HEA, and AEOTE held public hearings on their initial proposals at the March 27, 2019 school board meeting.
On Tuesday, May 28, HUSD and HEA initiated bargaining. HUSD has also met regularly with AEOTE since May 3, 2019. Unlike annual reopener negotiations for which the parties open one to two articles each, successor agreements tend to be three-year agreements that allow more articles to be open for negotiations. For this reason, the negotiations process is expected to extend over a longer period of time than in previous years.
HUSD’s Goals
At HUSD we put students and families first. We understand that to better serve our students we need to support the staff who directly serve them. We have the utmost respect for our colleagues who work in our schools, classrooms, and offices. During bargaining, our goal is to demonstrate our commitment to support staff and help them meet our students’ needs while remaining fiscally responsible.
Over the past five years, HUSD has increased salaries by 22.1%, and has maintained the second highest salary for mid-career teachers in Alameda county. We have done this despite the larger funding issues facing school districts across the country because our priority is to recruit and retain high quality staff. California ranks 41st in per student spending and our students and staff deserve a greater commitment to our schools.
In addition to increasing staff salaries, we have also shown our commitment to students, teachers, and school staff by reaching agreement with our labor partners on issues such as lowering the K-3 average class size and providing employee dental benefits.
