MEDIA ADVISORY
DECEMBER 14, 2021
The TAAAC Bargaining Team successfully reached a tentative mediated agreement with AACPS for a successor contract at 9:18 p.m. on December 13, 2021. TAAAC President Russell Leone released the following statement:
“TAAAC Members and all AACPS educators go above and beyond for our students and families every day. We have worked tirelessly to ensure safe, welcoming, and productive learning conditions.
Through 14 months of negotiations, members have held strong in the position that our labor deserves fair compensation in the form of pay or time. With the assistance of a mediator and consistent with the PSLRB guidelines for impasse, we have reached a tentative agreement that the TAAAC Bargaining Team will confidently recommend to the entire membership leading up to the ratification vote. Here are the brief highlights:
- 1% Cost of Living Adjustment
- 1 Step increase for all Unit 1 employees
- Resolution of back step issue to bring all educators to the step equivalent to their years of experience
- Reduced work schedule for one extra evening activity
Educators across our county insisted on the respect we deserve for the years of service to our school community with this contract putting an end to the inequities within the AACPS Unit 1 wage scale. The actions TAAAC members took to highlight our unsustainable work/caseloads, to insist on more funding from the County and BOE, and to advocate for the safety of everyone in our worksites are the reason we reached this successful contract.
We look forward to additional healthy and substantial conversations about other ways to improve Anne Arundel County public education. With the resources outlined within the Blueprint regulations and the millions of dollars of ARP funding already received by AACPS, we are confident we will continue fruitful exchanges around workload, our working conditions, and sub coverage.”