After 13 bargaining sessions between the IEASO bargaining team and the IEA team, IEASO requested we enter mediation on June 4. The current IEASO contract expires on Sept. 1. We have been bargaining with IEA since November.
Our IEASO members have worked tirelessly over the last several years to provide the services and support our IEA members deserve in a very trying environment. We have done so with fewer colleagues and with little to no increases to our salaries for many of us. We are so proud of the IEA and its advocacy for its members. We love our members and have wanted to do our part to both support them and ensure the continued viability of the organization. However, that doesn’t come without a price to our own mental and emotional well-being, or that of our families.
IEASO members have sacrificed wage growth in order to help IEA with both budgetary realities and the uncertainty of a post-Janus world. We know that our attempts to control IEA’s budget had a positive impact as IEA’s savings/assets have grown. But the negative impact on our IEASO members will continue.
IEA has proposed eliminating the pension, known as the Professional Staff Retirement Plan (PSRP), for new IEASO members. The PSRP is currently at least 92% funded. If uncertainty is the reason for IEA’s proposal to eliminate the PSRP, we would say, “Uncertainty is a reality of life.” Closing the PSRP will not eliminate uncertainty, only place more of that uncertainty on IEASO members. We have no reason to accept that. We all bargain with the future in mind, honoring our solidarity with those not yet hired as well as our current colleagues.
We believe that we are poised for membership growth and highly active and engaged union activity. We’ve deliberately sacrificed for the shared benefit of the IEA and IEASO for the last ten years. We’ve gladly done so during very risky times. The IEA is in a healthy financial position, and it’s time to provide pay and benefits that recognize the work done to ensure this is the case. We now have the opportunity to move past many of the factors that were beyond our control and embrace a bright future. We have proposed language and a financial package that are well within the goals and capacity of our organization. We want to extend a hand and walk a path together that enhances the lives of both IEASO members and IEA members. We know that we can come up with a contract that meets all of our needs.
Learn more about IEASO Bargaining:
