At the October 21, Board of Education meeting, the Meridian BOE issued the following public statement:
“As contract negotiations continue between the Board of Education and the Meridian Federation of Teachers, the district wishes to inform the public of the status of negotiations. On Wednesday, October 16, the Meridian Federation of Teachers initiated a public posting process with the State of Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board. With this process, both the MFT and the district will submit their most recent proposal to the Labor Relations Board within seven days. Subsequently, the Labor Relations Board will publicly post the submitted proposals on their website after another seven days. So, within the timeframe of Illinois labor statute, the most recent proposal for both the MFT and the Board of Education will be publicly available. The district will also post the Board of Education’s proposal to the district’s website. The Board and the MFT are scheduled to meet again on Wednesday, October 30.”
The Board of Education submitted its public posting document as required by law to the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, the mediator, and the MFT on Tuesday, October 22. The Meridian Federation of Teachers submitted their public posting document on Wednesday, October 23.
Illinois labor law (115 ILCS 5/12 Section 12) requires that the ELRB “shall make public the offers,” “seven days after receipt.” The Board has been advised by its attorney that the posting documents are not public documents until the ELRB publishes them. Upon receipt of the Board’s submission, the ELRB confirmed that the document should be posted on October 30.
The Board is aware that the posting document from the MFT has been made publicly available. From the beginning of the public posting process initiated by the MFT, the Board has remained committed to following all applicable Illinois labor laws.