Although leaders on both sides of a 3-day-old teachers strike in northern Lake County said Wednesday that they were ready to meet, neither side had yet changed its bargaining position and a federal mediator said the stalled contract talks may not resume for several days.
And as more than 1,000 pupils in Gavin School District 37 in Ingleside and Lake Villa remained out of school, teachers accused the school board of seeking a ”castle siege” to force them back into the classroom.
”They are just going to wait us out,” said Jane Keane, president of the Gavin Education Association, which represents the 48 striking teachers.
”Instead of talking, they think they can wait until the money runs out, and then we`ll come crawling back.
”We can wait, but we`d rather meet. Anytime.”
District 37 officials denied the union`s charges, saying they, too, were ready to resume negotiations that broke off Sunday after a 10-hour session ended when union officials walked out.
”The board position is that we are anxious to meet with the other team,” said District 37 Supt. J. Michael Maloney. ”As soon as the other side indicates that there is something to discuss, we will sit down and work this out.”
What both sides won`t say, however, is that they are willing to compromise on a formula to distribute $133,000 in pay raises-the central sticking point in negotiations that also have included disputes over health and retirement benefits. Without any such hope of compromise, the federal mediators assigned to resolve the strike said new meetings were pointless.
”They went as far as they could over the weekend,” said Dan O`Leary, district director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service in Hinsdale. ”Now they have to take a good hard look at their positions and when they are ready to strike a deal, then there will be a meeting.”
The district is seeking a new pay scale that would increase the salaries of beginning teachers by as much as 25 percent while freezing or slightly lowering the pay of more experienced educators. Teachers have countered with a proposal for smaller raises for new teachers while increasing salaries for those with more experience.
On Tuesday night, while picketing and seeking petition signatures at a meeting at Grant High School in Fox Lake, teachers were confronted by a half- dozen uniformed Fox Lake police officers.
”They looked like they were expecting Woodstock,” Keane said, laughing. ”Instead they got a bunch of women and kids.”
