UPDATE: Millbrae District Teachers Get Vocal About Salary, Benefit Proposals

Update 4:38 p.m. About 30 Millbrae School District teachers gathered Thursday afternoon at Taylor and Broadway in Millbrae to protest what they described as the district's "unfair salary and benefit proposals," one of the teachers said.

"Teachers from each school in Millbrae, all five schools, were there," Kathy Fanucchi, a member of the Millbrae Education Association said. "We were on all four corners at Taylor and Broadway.

Fanucchi said she is a 1st-grade teacher at Green Hills Elementary in Millbrae.

The Millbrae Education Association represents about 110 teachers, bargaining rep Trish Althaus said.

Posted 10:38 a.m. More than a dozen Millbrae School District teachers gathered Thursday morning at Taylor and Broadway in Millbrae to protest what they described as the district's "unfair salary and benefit proposals," and they planned to do so again Thursday afternoon, a bargaining unit rep said.

"I think there were about 15 of us this morning," Trish Althaus, bargaining chair for the Millbrae Education Association, said in a phone interview. "We're going to be out there again in the same location this afternoon."

The Millbrae Education Association represents about 110 teachers, said Althaus, who teaches 5th grade at Green Hills Elementary in Millbrae.

The Millbrae teachers were protesting the district's salary and benefit proposals because they "have not had a raise in nearly six years," association reps said in a statement.

"Educators in the high-cost San Mateo County community will rally at the same location, at the corner of Broadway and Taylor Boulevard in Millbrae, to draw public attention to their negotiations," their statement said. "Disappointed by the district's failure to offer any fair compensation to its teachers for their efforts and contributions to the schools and community, the 110-member Millbrae Education Association declared an impasse on Feb. 8."

No one answered the phone at Millbrae School District offices Thursday morning. District administrators could not be reached to comment for this report.

Millbrae teachers are seeking a 3 percent salary increase in 2013, Althaus said.

"The district has offered a 2 percent pay raise contingent on a concession by teachers on an existing retirement health benefit," Althaus said. "This concession would be a reduction or elimination of a benefit for all teachers and would result in a substantial loss of income after retirement."

Teachers' out-of-pocket expenses for health care premiums have tripled, on average, over the past five years, according to the Millbrae Education Association.

For Kaiser Health coverage and Delta Dental, Millbrae teachers annually pay out of pocket $3,200 for single coverage, $10,800 for an employee plus one, or $15,200 for family coverage, Althaus said.

"The district contributes the least amount of money toward health care costs of any other district in the county," Millbrae teachers said.

The afternoon rally is planned from 3 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. March 7 at Taylor and Broadway.

The Millbrae Education Association claims affiliation with the 325,000-member California Teachers Association and the 3.2 million-member National Education Association.

Follow Millbrae Patch on Twitter and Facebook, and sign up for the free daily newsletter here.