Deerfield teachers authorize strike

• Reprints

Updated: March 15, 2012 8:08AM

Deerfield School District 109 teachers have voted 261 to 2 to authorize a strike if the union’s negotiating team believes contract discussions have reached an impasse.

“The Deerfield Education Association and the board have been in contract negotiations for more than a year,” union President Dennis Jensen said. “There has been a little progress made and though that ‘little progress’ has occurred recently, it has been over tangential issues.

“No substantive progress has been made on the core issues. We believe that this has gone on long enough.”

School district officials were unavailable for comment.

Jensen said the vote came about because of the “sticking points in the talks — special education delivery and teacher evaluations — as well as guaranteed bathroom breaks; working in zero-degree wind chill; no regard for teachers’ opinions; and salary and benefits.

The parties haven’t engaged in negotiations on salary and benefits for some time because of non-monetary issues.

Union members said the school board’s salary proposals would double, triple and quadruple health insurance co-pays, deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses; eliminate the current salary schedule in the contract; reduce pension benefits for teachers.

“Teachers who have ‘family coverage’ already pay their percentage of premium increases every year with no limit. And at present, teachers pay about $9,000 per year. Administrators have their premiums paid by the district in full,” Jensen said.

As of June 30, the district had more than $17 million in its general education fund. The district also has added more than $5 million to this fund during the past two years, Jensen added.

In the next two to three years, more than 30 teachers will retire, saving the district millions of dollars, Jensen noted.

“Our goal is not a strike. Our goal is to reach a fair contract settlement that benefits the teachers, the students, the board and the taxpaying residents of Deerfield,” Jensen said.

“These negotiations have gone on long enough. We must move forward on this settlement and we must do so soon.”

Zion-Benton High School teachers went on strike for four days in January, the last Lake County teachers’ strike.