Mediation Asked In Teacher Pay Talks Parties Make Joint Reauest

A state mediator has been called in by the Board of Education and the Ann Arbor Educatión AssO'Ciation t o help resolve their impasse in salary negotiations. Negotiators for both sides signed a joint request for a mediator late yesterday afternoon following a bargaining session which brought additional agreements on non-economie items but no progress on economie issues. The school board and the AAEA are presently about $800,000 apart in their proposals for a 1968-69 contract. The mediator assigned to Ann Arbor is Robert Blackwell, executive secretary of the State Labor Mediation Board. It is not known at this time when Blackwell will come to the city, though it will probably be within two or three weeks. Blackwell was out of town today and could not be contacted. The job of a mediator is to intervene in order to assist the parties in arriving at a settlement. His suggestions or recommendations are not binding. There will be no cost to the Ann Arbor School District for the mediator. The mediators are provided and sd by the State Labor MediiB Board. "Calling in a mediator is not the most healthy sign," Thomas W. Hill, newly-hired negotiator 'or the school board said, "but ït's not cataclysmic either. It is simply an effort to speed up negotiations and help us arrive at a settlement." James Scheu, executive secretary of the AAEA, called ;he mediation request "a sincere effort on the part of both sides to' resolve this dispute." Hill said that mediation is "quite normal" in school districts the size of Ann Arbor. Most Michigan school districts of this size, he said, have called in mediators during the past three years. (In 1965, collective bargaining with teachers became a law in Michigan. Mediation machinery was set up by the state at the same time). Negotiations between the school board and the teachers began nearly 8 months ago, bul progress on economie issues i las been very slow. "It appears at this time we are so far apart . . . it would not be advantageous to continue with salary negotiations without the help of a mediator," AAEA President Harold Collins commented yesterday. Hill agreed the "areas of! difference" between the two sides are "significant enough" to request mediation. The teachers are requesting a total package of $1,155,000. This includes a salary range from $6,500 to $11,050 for those with a bachelor's degree, and from $7,150 to $12,350 for teachers with a master's degree. In 1967-68, Ann Arbor teachers with a BA received a starting salary of $6,000. Starting salary with an MA was $6,300. The Board of Education is offering a package totaling $353,000. This includes a range of $6,300 to $10,140 for teachers with a BA degree, and from $6,610 to $11,310 for an MA. The Board of Education has not made a salary counterproposal since June 18. The teachers' latest proposal, made July 18, was the scrapping of their requests for term life insurance policies. This was a decrease of $50,000 over their earlier proposal of June 14. Agreement has already been reached on many non-economie items, though a number must still be resolved. The two bargaining teams will continue to meet regularly to discuss mainly non-economi( issues u n t i 1 the mediato arrivés in the city. The nex regular negotiating session is scheduled for Tuesday. An agreement must be reached by late August or early September if school is to star on schedule. Classes are scheduled to begin Thursday, Sept. 5. A contract agreement was reached last year July 12. No mediator was called in last summer.