HAMPDEN, Maine — Members of the RSU 22 teachers union on Thursday ratified a new three-year contract, putting months of sometimes contentious negotiations to an end.
Education Association 22’s membership began voting on the contract on Wednesday and finished up on Thursday, Hampden Academy teacher Emily Albee, a member of the union’s negotiating team, said Thursday.
Albee said that the teachers ratified the contract by a “large majority” but declined to provide a breakdown. The union has about 140 members.
“We are really excited to move forward and keep education our No. 1 priority,” she said.
The union’s vote came a day after the new contract was unanimously approved by the RSU 22 school board.
The contract succeeds the previous agreement, which expired last summer, Superintendent Rick Lyons said Thursday.
The new contract is retroactive to Sept. 1 of last year and runs through to Aug. 31, 2018, Lyons said.
Lyons said the agreement includes pay increases averaging about 10 percent over the term of the contract and eliminates a controversial merit-based pay system adopted by the board and the union in late 2013, which many teachers said they considered demeaning and divisive.
Under the new contract, the district will continue to pay full cost for health insurances for teachers with an individual plan and 70 percent of the cost for teachers who have family coverage.
During the most recent round of contract talks — which at nearly 100 hours was the longest Lyons has seen in his tenure — teachers maintained, among other things, that they were being paid several thousand dollars less per year than their counterparts in Greater Bangor. Teachers said the relatively low pay had led some to leave the district.
RSU 22’s member towns are Hampden, Newburgh, Winterport and Frankfort.