Union to contribute to health insurance costs
Woodbridge school board and WTEA ratify new three-year contract
BY KATHY CHANG
Staff Writer

Members of the Woodbridge Township Education Association will have to contribute to their health insurance premium costs for the first time next year.

WTEA members will pay $200 annually for a single plan and $400 a year for a family plan, beginning July 1, 2007, said union President Brian Geoffroy.

The contributions to the single and family plans next year will bring in approximately $434,000 in savings, said Board of Education member Brian Dziedzic, chairman of the board's negotiating committee.

"The negotiations were good, but difficult," said Dziedzic. He and board member Brian Molnar met with WTEA members about 20 times over the past year.

"It was a lot of work," Dziedzic said. "The union was very fair and understood what we were going through and we finally got the contract ironed out."

WTEA members will receive salary increases of up to 3.5 percent, according to their new three-year contract.

The WTEA and the Board of Education ratified the contract on Sept. 14. Members voted 1,127 to 270 and school board members voted 8 to 0, said union President Brian Geoffroy.

The 1,800 WTEA members, which include teachers, paraprofessionals, custodians, and other staff members, were without a contract since July 1.

"The main issues were salary and benefit issues," Geoffroy said, who became union president in July. "This has been a late settlement, but it's not unusual. We usually settle the contracts in late August, but usually before the school year starts."

WTEA members will receive a salary increase of 3 percent for this school year (2006-07), a 3.25 percent increase next year (2007-08), and a 3.5 percent increase for the third year (2008-09), said Geoffroy.

The new contract will increase the average basic salary by $500 this year, which will be $44,500. And by the third year of the contract, the average basic salary will have increased by $2,500 to $47,000, he said.

WTEA members will also start paying slight increases for medical appointments, co-pays and prescriptions in the 2006-07 year, Geoffroy said.

"The co-pays have increased from $10 to $15," he said.

Members previously paid nothing for prescription drug costs. Now they will pay $1 per prescription, Geoffroy said.

"The increases in the co-pays will bring in $40,000 savings," said Dziedzic.

Dziedzic said the savings will be put toward new books, programs, and materials for the district.

"Now we can concentrate on moving toward more progress in education and lowering the tax rate for taxpayers," he said.