The Lowell Sun is reporting that the Wilmington School Committee has turned down a teachers contract that had been negotiated and was ready for ratification by both sides. While the exact terms of the contract were not made public the Sun reports that it was likely a three year deal with an eight percent increase for teachers over that period. In the past such a contract would have been considered modest. Today it is unacceptable. Michael Widmer of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation commented in the Sun:

“These are extraordinary times, of the kind we haven’t seen in 75 years,” said Michael Widmer, executive director of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Association. “You can’t have a global economic meltdown and not have consequences for everybody. The traditional reality of being able to give raises and generous benefits is coming to an end.”

Widmer also pointed out the obvious, but the obvious is sometimes slow to seep in.

“People need to understand that at this point, there will be a direct tradeoff between giving a raise and layoffs,” Widmer noted. “I applaud the Wilmington School Committee for raising this issue.”

The Massachusetts Teachers Association does not agree, saying that we must find a way to make education “recession proof”.

“We understand that these are difficult and uncertain times, but we think it’s reasonable to still have some salary increases,” said Anne Wass, the president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association. “No matter how bad the economy is, we have to find a way to recession-proof education. Where you might go slow for a while on a road that is in need of repairs, a kid only goes through education once. We have a big investment here that we need to protect.”

You will now begin to see more of this, with municipalities in no position to give even modest increases. As the situation gets worse, and with no help from above, cities and towns will begin the process of asking for modifications and givebacks on existing and future contracts. Widmer has it right. There is a direct correlation between salaries and benefits and employment. The higher the cost structure, the less we will be able to employ. Read the Sun article here.