Relief In Johnston That House Won't Hear Arbitration Bill

Johnston School Committee member Robert LaFazia said he's relieved that the Rhode Island House of Representatives decided not to hear the controversial binding arbitration bill.

The Providence Journal reported on June 30 that House Speaker Gordon Fox announced his decision not to bring the bill to a vote, effectively stopping progress on the bill as the legislature takes a summer recess.

"That (bill) would have had a hell of an impact on us and the town," LaFazia explained during a phone interview on July 1. "It's going to be hard enough with the level funding to hold the line — which we still intend to do — but this would have put a spear through our heart."

Prior to the decision to suspend consideration of the bill, LaFazia and other local officials said they opposed the legislation.

State Sen. Frank Lombardo III (D-Dist. 25), who voted against the bill on June 29, said in a separate interview that he was also relieved — but still concerned that the bill could be revisited later this year.

"They never voted it out of committee, which means they can revisit it in committee in October [when the Assembly is expected to consider pension reform] or any time until Dec. 31," Lombardo said. "So it's not dead — people really need to keep their finger on this issue, because it could come up again later this year."

The local school district's contract with Local 1702 of the American Federation of Teachers/AFL-CIO is set to expire on August 30. A date for mediation — a step toward possible arbitration — has yet to be set, LaFazia said.

School officials made three offers to the teachers' union to schedule negotiations, LaFazia explained, but after receiving no response, filed for mediation earlier this month.

"We're going to work our hardest to resolve this before the start of the school year if we can," LaFazia said.

The binding arbitration bill would have required school and union officials to meet specific timelines for completing mediation and arbitration, and allowed aribtrators — who would either be chosen from a pool of retired judges or a list of provided by a national arbitrators' association — to decide the final terms of a contract, including the potential cost.

"They did the right thing to wipe this out," LaFazia said.