During the Public be Heard section of the Levittown Board of Education meeting on April 8, Charles Kemnitzer, the president of the Levittown United Teachers, which is a part of local union 1383 of the AFT, declared that they and the school district have reached an impasse in contract negotiations.

LUT began contract negotiations with the school district last May and have been working without a contract since July 1, 1997. According to Kemnitzer, "Those negotiations, unfortunately, have been to no avail." He adds that they do not feel like they are any closer to an agreement then they were a year ago. He stated that they have reached an impasse which is a formal situation in which the parties have declared that they cannot reach an agreement at the table. The next step in the negotiation process is for a mediator to be brought in. A mediator is an impartial third party who is brought in to broker an agreement between the two concerned parties.

Currently, the LUT is only one of three unions in the district who are working without a contract. The Civil Service union and ALSA, which is the union for all the administrators except for the superintendent and assistant superintendent, are also under contract negotiations at this time. The LUT contains not only teachers, but the school nurses, teacher's aides, and teacher's assistants.

According to School Board Trustee Gary Fisch this is a situation that is going to be visible for the foreseeable future. According to Fisch, "The LUT is asking for X and the school district is offering Z. Somewhere in between is Y, and that is where, after a period of time, those sides will come to an agreement." He says that it could take anywhere from several months to several years for them to reach that point but that the average length of time for contract negotiations in New York State is 18 months.

The contact negotiations thus far have not affected the schools. According to Fisch the union is not allowed to not do anything that they have done as part of their job in the past. He says that currently very little has changed because of these contract difficulties and that the teachers are still working under the same contract as they had been under. They still have all their benefits and about 50 percent of the teachers have gotten their normal step pay increases but there have been no additional raises.

On the part of the LUT Kemnitzer says, "Everything has been business as usual and that is what the LUT has encouraged." He adds, "In fact, the LUT was a major sponsor and participant in the Levittown 50th Anniversary activities, which is understandable since we consider ourselves as a vital part of the community. The last thing that we want is to bring any negative publicity onto Levittown." He went on to say that they are very appreciative of the fact that the district has abided by their expired contract.

The question now remains about what will happen if the mediation process does not do any good. According to Kemnitzer, "If the mediation process goes nowhere then we feel we will have no choice but to begin picketing and to take other public actions to draw attention to our cause and to push for a contract settlement." Fisch says he fully expects that actions such as these will take place but that legally, the LUT cannot strike and if they do they will be charged two days pay for each day that they are on strike. This happened in 1978, which was the last time there were major contract problems, and it cost the teachers about $5 million over the two months they were on strike. Fisch points out that no matter how much the new contract gives them there is no way that money can be recovered.

Kemnitzer says they will resort to tactics such as picketing if they must and that they will do so reluctantly. He adds, "You must remember that we are aware of the effects of labor unrest on a school district and its property value." He says that there have been at least 10 years of labor harmony and that harmony and stability has allowed the teachers to accomplish many great things and allowed them to focus on educating the students. He adds, "It would be a tragedy if we were to now lose that harmony and stability, for there are still many important things to do."

Kemnitzer urged the board to do all that they could to see that the mediation process is successful. He asked them to do their part to see that there is a new teacher contract by the end of the school year. Board President Kenneth Auer stated, in a phone interview after the meeting, that he could not comment on any of the negotiations that are currently taking place.

According to Kemnitzer 87 percent of Levittown teachers are paid below the Nassau County median and he says that means that over half of Levittown's teachers salaries are below average. He went on to state, "It is our contention that nothing about the Levittown schools, including its teachers salaries should be allowed to fall below or remain below average."