MAR LIN - After five and a half hours of contract talks Tuesday, the teachers and school board at Schuylkill Intermediate Unit 29 left the Maple Avenue Campus hopeful they could knock out a deal today.
"I'm optimistic. I'm hopeful we can get a deal," said Mark Featherman, an attorney with the law firm of Willig, Williams and Davidson, Philadelphia, who represented the teachers at negotiations Tuesday.
"I don't know. I've seen talks go both ways a lot of times. I don't tend to predict. But we will be here first thing in the morning," the attorney for the IU board, Charles N. Sweet, New Britain, Bucks County, said.
On June 11, the mediator, William D. Gross, who is the director of the Bureau of Mediation at the state Department of Labor and Industry, encouraged the parties to come to terms and end what's become 30 months of contract talks.
So, the parties agreed to schedule two back-to-back negotiation sessions. The first was held Tuesday. The second will begin at 10 a.m. today.
"I thought it was productive. We talked about wages and benefits. Those are the two biggies. We narrowed our differences. We're still working. There were no new issues on the table," Featherman said.
"I would not disagree with that," Sweet said.
While representatives of the teachers occupied one corner of the building, representatives for the school board gathered in another. And Gross walked back and forth numerous times carrying messages between the parties.
Gross would not comment on the talks, only to say, "It's still going on," as he passed by.
"Bill Gross was optimistic," Sweet said after talks wrapped Tuesday.
The reason the talks wrapped at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday was because Gross had to leave.
"The mediator had another meeting tonight in Luzerne County. Otherwise, we would not necessarily have quit right now," Sweet said at 3:35 p.m.
Gross does not have any other appointments today that would interrupt negotiations, Sweet said.
Sweet was not sure how long talks would last today.
"But the talks could be longer. You never know," Sweet said, who said he has 45 years of experience in working in such negotiations.
If a deal isn't struck by today, Featherman predicted talks would continue in August.
The IU's 67 teachers have been working without a contract since their last pact expired. Negotiations began Jan. 9, 2012. The teachers are being represented by Teamsters Local 429, Wyomissing, Berks County.
On May 1, the teachers presented the board with a proposal which included retroactive salaries back to the 2012-13 school year. Their last contract expired, June 30, 2012.
On May 19, the board presented the teachers with a proposal which began with the 2014-15 school year and did not take retroactive salaries into account, according to Sweet.