The COBRA rears: With strike called for mid-week, fight continues over teacher health benefits in Cleveland H - cleveland.com

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UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio -- If the issue of healthcare coverage was not already at the forefront of a Cleveland Heights Teachers Union strike set to begin Wednesday (Dec. 2), it has certainly made it to the top of the grievance list in the last few days.

Despite outcry from the CHTU, its national union affiliate, district families and -- quoted in a press release-- Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Board of Education pointed to state law that requires the district to suspend pay and compensation to striking public sector employees.

That’s exactly what the school board did last week, approving a district action plan after receiving a 10-day strike notice from the 500-member teachers union.

There could be some legal dispute over whether “compensation,” undefined in that section of the Ohio Revised Code, stretches to healthcare insurance, with CHTU President Karen Rego saying after the Nov. 23 board action that the decision was a “choice” that the district made.

Rego went on to call the move “outrageous and heavy handed,” especially “during the peak of a global pandemic,” in a press release issued by the union on Friday (Nov. 27).

“We made the hard decision to plan for a strike to protect the quality health insurance that we have gained over the years by forgoing wage increases, and now the district is seeking to punish us by eliminating our health care altogether,” Rego added.

At least three school board members have questioned the union’s timing for calling a strike, with Dan Heintz pointing out Nov. 23 that the changes to the benefits -- including a hike in healthcare premiums from 6 percent to 15 percent and elimination of a 1 percent retirement contribution -- wouldn’t begin until January.

In addition to being a Heights grad and school board member, Heintz also teaches in the Chardon Local School District.

Reiterating the position he took when the school board implemented its “last best and final offer” on Sept. 29, Heintz said that if he were a teacher in the CH-UH district, he would have voted to reject the one-year contract, which also contains no pay raises other than salary steps based on seniority.

“There’s not much about it to like, but I would not strike over it,” Heintz said Nov. 23. “Rejecting a contract is one thing. Striking over it is something entirely different. We’ll be back at the table negotiating a successor agreement in April. Striking over benefits just doesn’t make sense.”

In a joint statement released Friday, CH-UH Schools Superintendent Liz Kirby and school board President Jodi Sourini noted that the district had been in discussions with the union for “nearly 20 hours in the last several days to work to resolve our differences, and we remain committed to the process.”

In an update Monday (Nov. 30), Rego said it now added up to 23 hours of additional discussions, “many of those hours over the Thanksgiving holiday. They have not proposed anything except their last, best, final imposed contract.”

Rego added that a mediator had been on board for those new discussions, as well as the 60 hours of previous talks held since the teachers’ last one-year contract expired at the end of June.

Agreeing that the union “could have waited,” school board Vice President Jim Posch said that great teachers are the “heart and soul” of the district.

“But there’s no denying our fiscal situation is grim, even with the passage of a new levy (Issue 69, which was still undergoing an automatic recount as of Monday). We need to get real about a few things,” Posch said at the Nov. 23 board meeting.

Posch argued that the board’s plans to bring healthcare coverage in line with other districts may have contributed to the reduced 4.8-mill levy’s as-yet narrow passage.

“With this slim margin, we can no longer take community support for granted,” Posch said. “We’re talking about changing a ‘zero-deductible’ healthcare plan -- paying for 100 percent of medical costs -- to a ’90 percent-10 percent’ deductible, with a maximum $600 out-of-pocket expense on a single plan and $1,200 for families.

“I am unaware of any district that offers a ‘zero-deductible’ plan,” Posch added.

In a district statement released Monday, Sourini said the days of 6 percent premiums and zero deductibles are over.

“The union leadership should stop exploiting the pandemic and the real suffering of those who have lost their jobs, been furloughed or have fallen ill, and instead admit that the modest increase in health care they are being asked to take is reasonable and best for the district,” Sourini stated.

Sourini added that the teachers after Jan. 1 would be asked to contribute toward their health care $55.26 per pay for single coverage and $149.20 per pay for family coverage.

This is up from the current $29 per paycheck for single healthcare coverage and $77 per paycheck for family healthcare coverage, she added.

In Friday’s joint news release, Kirby and Sourini pointed to one other district in Ohio where the district took steps to cancel medical insurance during the state’s COVID-19 health emergency.

That was in the Gahanna-Jefferson schools, where a strike lasted four days in October and was called over the district’s plans for a hybrid learning model that the union felt was unsafe.

‘Virtual’ picket line

Since March, the roughly 5,000 students in the CH-UH Schools have remained on strictly remote instruction, at least up until winter break, although the union issued a news release Monday (Nov. 30) noting the district’s announcement that in-person special education classes would be canceled due to the strike.

While the only picket line that students would have to cross would be virtual, Sourini noted at the Nov. 23 meeting that families wishing to honor the strike could make an official switch to homeschooling for the duration by contacting the district offices.

Sourini said she was adamant about classes continuing through any strike, because she did not want schoolchildren to have to go extra days at the end of the year to make up any lost time.

As for the notion of crossing any picket line, Sourini apologized to students for what was potentially “another traumatic event in a year where you have already had so much disappointment.”

Sourini added that “the district’s financial situation is no reflection on the respect we have for our teachers.”

That respect continued to blossom Monday with a separate online petition hosted by change.org in support of the CH-UH teachers, with over 2,300 names signed on shortly before noon, well on the way to the original goal of 2,500.

COBRA coverage

In their joint release on Nov. 27, Kirby and Sourini noted that teachers could also choose to continue their healthcare benefits through the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) during a strike.

“If they elect to take the COBRA benefits, there will be no lapse in coverage,” the district release stated. “The change is the employee, not the board, must pay for the coverage. While we understand this expense will be a burden to some striking teachers, it does allow for continuation of coverage during a strike.”

Rego countered that COBRA is “very expensive and the member would have to pay for their premiums, which could be financially out of reach for many.”

Sherrod Brown weighs in

In the Nov. 27 press release put out by the American Federation of Teachers, Ohio’s Democratic senator also called for a resolution to the ongoing labor dispute.

“With teachers, faculty and staff already under increased strain to provide the best education possible amid a global pandemic, our educators shouldn’t have to also worry about reduced benefits and paying more for their health care,” Brown stated.

“I believe everyone involved in these negotiations shares the same goal of helping students get a quality education during these unprecedented times,” Brown added. “That’s why I’m urging the school district to head back to the negotiating table to reach an equitable agreement that allows everyone to focus on student success.”

The CHTU also posted a list of issues on the website Monday at http://chtu.oh.aft.org/strike/information-districts-plan-education-during-our-strike

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