Shelton Paraprofessionals Union Files Complaint Against Board of Ed

The following release was sent by AFSCME Local 1303-196 Council 4.

The union representing Shelton school paraprofessionals has filed an unfair labor complaint against the Board of Education for engaging in bad faith bargaining when it refused to process a signed, tentative agreement on a new 3-year contract.

Council 4 of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME) filed the complaint last Friday with the Connecticut State Board of Labor Relations on behalf of AFSCME Local 1303-196, which represents 44 paraprofessionals in the Shelton public schools.

In the complaint, Council 4 alleges that the Shelton Board of Education violated municipal labor law and the mutually agreed to ground rules by failing to present the tentative contract agreement signed on behalf of the Board of Education for ratification and approval.

“If the Board of Education and its legal representatives had any issues with the language of the tentative agreement, they should have shared those concerns during contract mediation,” Council 4 Staff Representative Lisa McKinnon said. “The fact of the matter is they signed off on the tentative agreement, which the parties had agreed to after 4 days of negotiations and more than 5 hours of mediation. They put their signature to it before we put ours.”

The State Labor Board will hold an informal hearing on Council 4’s complaint. (Download a copy of the complaint above.)

“We expect the Board of Education to abide by the ground rules, and the spirit of labor negotiations, and move forward to approve this agreement,” McKinnon said.