Union rejects offer from School District

Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2003 | 9:32 a.m.

The union representing custodians, food service workers, bus drivers and office personnel has rejected a two-year contract offer from the Clark County School District.

The two sides are expected to return to the negotiating table.

At a contract ratification meeting last week at Valley High School, members of the Education Support Employees Association voted 278-114 to reject the tentative agreement with the School District, which would have provided 2 percent pay increases for each of the next two years.

At issue was the district's plan to limit how many vacation days support employees would be allowed to "cash out" to five days, said Joe Furtado, executive director of the association. There is currently no limit.

The district has about 1,000 11-month employees, many of whom rely on the vacation cash-out option during the month each year when they would otherwise not draw a paycheck, Furtado said.

District officials have said they want to shift the money used for the vacation day cash-outs to reclassify support employee positions, which would boost salaries for lower-ranked support employees.

George Ann Rice, associate superintendent of human resources, is expected to ask the School Board Thursday for permission to reopen negotiations with the support employees union. A tentative meeting is set for next Wednesday, Furtado said.

The ESEA represents the majority of the nearly 5,000 support employees in the School District.