EXETER — Teachers in the Wyoming Area School District won’t be working Tuesday, their union says — not due to a strike, but as a result of what the union calls an illegal lockout by the administration.
Wyoming Area Education Association President Melissa Dolman said the bargaining unit’s 154 teachers are still working under contract — it expires Saturday — but the district has refused to honor salary increases members are entitled to under step advances spelled out in the existing three-year contract.
Dolman said the union has been in contract negotiations with the district, but stressed the existing pact remains in effect.
“We are under the current contract,” she said. “There is still a contract.”
District Solicitor Jarrett Ferentino confirmed the union gave notice of the potential work stoppage Wednesday.
He declined comment on the situation other than to say board members plan to meet in a closed session this week regarding the matter.
“Obviously we are taking this and our obligations to the district and the taxpayers very seriously,” Ferentino said.
Dolman said the union believes its position is valid for several reasons, namely the existence of a contract, applicable case law, and the fact that a 2002 arbitration ruling in favor of the union on the same issue has never been challenged by the district.
School returned to session for the year Monday. There will be no classes on Labor Day.
This is not the first time labor troubles have led to work stoppages early in a school year in the district.
In September 2013, unionized teachers called a strike after only three days of school. The teachers returned Oct. 4 when they were required to by law and had been working under terms of an expired contract since August 2010, as the Times Leader reported then.
