Frustrated and angry, Massapequa School District nurses spoke up at the board of education's Oct 8 public meeting charging the district with being uncooperative and unwilling to negotiate a new labor contract. The district's 11 nurses have been working without a new contract since June 1995. Both nurses and District Superintendent James Brucia said the negotiations are stuck over money issues including salary and health insurance. The nurses, who recently declared an impasse, requested that the New York State Public Employees Relations Board provide them with a mediator.

"Despite our willingness to discuss the issues and compromise, we still do not have an agreement," said Helen Donohoe, co-representative for the district's nurses. She said that due to the district's unwillingness to negotiate, their meetings were often "an exercise in futility."

Meanwhile, Brucia said he's hopeful that the negotiations will pick up again. "In all these things it takes two sides to negotiate," he said. "We have come across with proposals and counterproposals and so have they. We just have not been able to work through to the final settlement yet."

According to a fact sheet from the New York State Nurses Association, the nurses' wages are the lowest among neighboring districts. It states that the nurses rejected the district's initial proposal of a two percent wage increase with a one percent give back to pay for health benefits because they believe they should be able to "receive fair compensation." The fact sheet also says that the district has not offered any counterproposals but seeks further concessions from the nurses.

"We've given in and we've given up and we've given back to the point where we feel like we have been in negotiations with ourselves," said Donohoe at the Oct. 8 meeting. "We still don't have an agreement, nor do we understand why."

In a press release issued by the New York State Nurses Association, the district was accused of "dragging its feet, subjecting the process to one delay after another."

Brucia disagreed. "It may seem like it's taking an inordinate amount of time, but the nurses declared an impasse and now we have to wait for the public employees relations board to appoint a mediator," he said. "We're awaiting that and as soon as that happens we'll resume negotiations."

According to Virginia Kowal, a co-representative of the nurses, the district proposed that nurses pay one percent of their salaries or 10 percent of the premium for health insurance, whichever is less. The health insurance payments would be retroactive by one year. Kowal said that although the nurses are willing to consider paying a percentage of the health insurance costs, they don't want to pay the one year retroactive costs. She said that considering the low salaries they make, even a one percent payment would have a significant impact on their paychecks.

Another sticking point Kowal cited was the rate of salary increase. She said the nurses have been asking for a 3.5 increase each of the six years covered in the contract, while the district is proposing the same schedule offered to the teachers, which starts at 2.5 the first year and ends at 3.75 the last. Kowal said based on the 1994 contract, salaries range from $21,477 to $34,052 after 25 years of service.

Lastly, Kowal said the nurses want to negotiate a raise of the daily rate of retirement allowance for unused sick days from $55 with a 9,900 day cap to $75 with a 12,600 day cap.

"I strongly suspect that many on the board, in the community and even some staff don't fully understand what we do and the impact that we have on the students and their families," said Kowal at the meeting. "But I know we're 100 percent accountable for each of the numerous independent assessments we make each day. I know there is no room for error. We put our career on the line daily for the Massapequa students and their families. We're professionals. Professionals treat each other with respect. Professionals negotiate."

Peggy Huebner, a nurse at Berner Junior High School, said that she also doesn't believe that board and administrators know the full scope of their duties. For example, she said the nurses at Berner deal with up to 80 walk-ins in the office a day, cleared 469 students for the fall sport season with five more seasons to go and personally interviewed and assessed each of the 1611 students.

Donohoe said that "although the nurses have continued to care for students and faculty in their usual professional manner, morale has never been lower."

Still, Brucia said that both board members and the administration feel bad that the nurses don't have a contract settlement yet.

"They are a good group of dedicated, professional employees and they do perform a very important function in the school district so it's particularly painful to see them dissatisfied and their morale low," he said.