SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : District Employees Vote for Pay Raise

The Capistrano Unified School District’s non-teaching employees have overwhelmingly voted to accept a 3% pay raise.

By a 151-17 vote Thursday, the members of the California School Employees Assn. accepted the pay increase, which is retroactive to July 1. The contract, expected to cost the district an additional $540,000 this year, must now be approved by the district’s Board of Trustees.

The employees are in the second year of a three-year contract that allows them to renegotiate their salaries annually.

Meanwhile, the district and its teachers’ union remain deadlocked in their negotiations, with union officials charging that the district is being unfair in its proposals.

The settlement between the other employees and the district came a month after the sides had declared themselves hopelessly stalled and asked the state to mediate a compromise. But both sides agreed to return to the bargaining table and reached an agreement before the mediator could intervene.

CSEA President Marjorie Johnson said the union accepted the raise because its members realized that 3% is all the district can afford. This year’s raise is less than the 7 1/2% increase the employees received last year because the district is looking at slashing $4 million in spending by the next school year due to state budget cuts.

“With the mess the state’s finances are in, people are glad to have a job,” said Johnson, whose group represents the district’s 1,200 non-teaching employees. “The district has always been very fair with us.”

Under the new agreement, the top pay for non-teachers, such as some computer specialists, will be raised to $3,544 a month, while those at the bottom of the scale, such as some cafeteria workers, will receive $1,226 a month.

Linda A. Kroner, the district’s director of employee relations, said the district can pay for the raise with few cutbacks, and none that will directly affect students.

The district and the teachers’ union, the Capistrano Unified Education Assn., have agreed to a 3% raise, but the union is insisting on an additional 1% raise if the district’s financial situation improves.

The teachers are also insisting that their retirement system remain unchanged, while the district is asking for cuts, said Ric Stephenson, the union’s president. A negotiation session is scheduled for Wednesday.

“I am not confident,” Stephenson said.

District officials said their 3% offer is all they can afford.

“I’m disappointed in Ric’s comments,” Kroner said. “But when you get down to the end, the differences may not seem like much, but in this given year, this is all we can do.”