Dispute between union, school board punted to state Labor Relations Board

By VINAYA SAKSENA

EAST PROVIDENCE — The state’s Supreme Court has rejected a request by the city teachers union to forestall teacher salary cuts — but union leaders say they’re not done fighting yet.

The East Providence Education Association had appealed a Superior Court decision to stay out of the teachers’ dispute with the city’s School Committee.
In a ruling issued last month, Superior Court Judge Mark Pfeiffer said he would not intervene in the dispute, a matter in which City Hall also wished to be recognized as an interested party.
Pfeiffer noted in his decision last month that the union had an unfair labor practices complaint pending before the state’s Labor Relations Board. He then opined that it would be inappropriate for the courts to intervene until the LRB had weighed in.
The Supreme Court decision issued Thursday appears to concur with Pfeiffer’s findings. However, court spokesman Craig Berke said he could not comment on the reasoning behind the decision of the five-judge panel.
Earlier in the week, the East Providence Taxpayers Association issued a statement saying it had gathered over 1,000 signatures on a petition urging the court and the Labor Relations Board to reject the teachers’ appeal. Karen Jenkins, communications director for the National Education Association of Rhode Island (NEARI), was not pleased about the ruling, but said the teachers’ fight was not over yet.
“Naturally, we’re disappointed,” Jenkins said. “But the real question is before the Labor Relations Board. They’re the ones who will decide whether or not the School Committee can (enforce) the cuts.”
Additionally, NEARI announced Thursday that teachers would be conducting a leaflet campaign Saturday morning, distributing copies of a document they said “sets the record straight on 11 points in their ongoing struggle with the East Providence School Committee.” According to a statement from the NEARI, teachers would be delivering leaflets door-to-door beginning at 9 a.m.