By Shelby Stewart-Soldan
ssoldan@mihomepaper.com
Brandon Twp. — During the regular Brandon Board of Education meeting on Monday night, district superintendent Carly Stone gave an update about the ongoing negotiations with the Brandon Educators Association. Their contract, which has been expired since Oct. 31, has been in negotiation since spring of 2024.
“In February 2024, legislation changed in Michigan, allowing for collective bargaining of previously prohibited subjects at the negotiation table,” she said. “Examples of these previously prohibited subjects include teacher placement, layoff and recall, staff evaluation, staff discipline, and the collection of union dues. These topics are now mandatory bargaining subjects and require new language to be added to the collective bargaining agreement.”
The legislation, Restoring Workers’ Rights bill package, was signed by Governor Whitmer in 2023. The bill package allowed union security agreements between employers and labor unions. It also amended the public employment relations act to allow for such change. The laws went into affect in early 2024, and due to that, negotiations began earlier than usual in hopes to settle a new contract prior to the expiration.
“Both sides have spent many hours at the negotiating table to agree to a contract for the 2024-2025 school year and beyond,” she said. “With revisions and updates to recent contract language and the inclusion of previously prohibited topics, the contract language is very close to being settled. There are a couple language items that the BEA and district negotiation tams have been working through, which we are struggling to settle.”
Following the struggle, Stone said, the district has requested a mediator through the Michigan Employment Relations Commission in an effort to keep negotiations moving forward, and work with the mediator will begin in March.
“Recently, there has been a discussion regarding the finance portion of our negotiations,” she said. “We are engaged in continued discussion at the negotiating table here as well. It is important to note that when the legislation changed in February 2024 to include former prohibited subjects in collective bargaining, there was also a change affecting when staff receive a salary increase on their contracted salary schedule. Step schedule advancements are no longer frozen following the expiration of a collective bargaining agreement.”
The step increase for eligible BEA members was approved by the board of education for the 2024-2025 budget, and the district was able to move members one step and adjust salaries in the fall.
“Although BEA negotiations have not yet been settled, both the administrative staff and the board of education of the Brandon School District value and appreciate our staff,” she said. “The time and dedication our staff spend for our Brandon students, their families, and each other is remarkable. It brings nothing but pure joy to us all when we see and hear all the fantastic things happening in our classrooms, the many examples of folks going the extra mile, and the accomplishments our students make as a direct result of their influence. Thank you for all you do and continue to do for our students, families, and each other. You are why this is such a special place to work and live.”
BEA president Andrea Noeker also gave an update during the public comment portion of the meeting, following an anonymous Facebook post that discussed the contract negotiations.
“It has been brought to my attention that this past weekend, there was an anonymous Facebook post on a local forum that shared inaccuracies,” she said. “I want you to rest assured that I did not make that post. I would not post anonymously. I am not afraid to tell you how negotiations are going.”
Noeker also said that making changes to the proposals has been getting difficult, and that the BEA suggested returning to a collaborative process, and encouraged the board to reach out to her if they had questions about negotiations. She also expressed concern about the Thrun law firm being involved from a cost perspective. Thrun is one of two law firms whose services are retained by the school, as approved by the board of education.
“We, the BEA, suggested throwing out both the Thrun law firm language and the BEA language and build something new together,” said Noeker. “We brought samples of other districts and how they had done this. This is how we worked together before Ryan joined the negotiations. It was a very thoughtful and collaborative process. The district ignored our request with no response and decided mediation was the next best step.”
Negotiations with a mediator are expected to begin in March.