I am a teacher in the Northampton Public Schools and I am writing regarding the Northampton Association of School Employee’s decision to initiate a work-to-rule campaign.
The Northampton School Committee refused to respond to our bargaining proposals regarding wages, and also refused to negotiate over non-monetary language items.
I am writing about one of the non-monetary items: a proposed change in contract language about sick time. The School Committee proposed that full-time teachers, instead of receiving a set amount of sick time at the beginning of each school year, receive sick time based on the number of months they worked the year prior.
I want to share a personal story that illustrates how this language change punishes employees during their times of greatest need. I had a baby in August 2018, and I took three months off at the beginning of the school year to care for my newborn. Because we have no paid maternity leave, I applied for a leave under the Family Medical Leave Act.
This means I was allowed to be out of work for 12 weeks and had to use all of my sick days during that time. Now I am back at work with no sick time left, so I can’t stay home if I’m sick or if my child is sick. Next year I will need my new sick time more than ever.
But, the proposed new language says that because I was out for three months this year, I will lose 1.05 days of sick time next year, for each month that I was out on leave. This means that even though I used my own accrued sick time to take three months off under a federally protected medical leave, I will be penalized for it next year. This change in contract language is discriminatory.
The School Committee is proposing punishing new mothers and people with serious illnesses for using their own sick time. We will not accept a contract with this language in it. We ask the community to stand with us as we fight this unfair proposal.
Rachel Dworkin
Holyoke