Hammonton Education Association bargains a truly inclusive contract
By Kathryn Coulibaly
With a singular focus on doing right by all of its members, the Hammonton Education Association (HEA) went into bargaining in February 2024 united in its contract goals.
“We had a clear mission, dating back to before S-2,” says Anthony Angelozzi, president of HEA. Passed in 2018, S-2 modified the School Funding Reform Act of 2009, leading to a series of deep cuts in state aid for many school districts over seven years.
“Hammonton is one of the most underfunded districts in the state,” Angelozzi says. “We were at close to half the aid we should have been getting, and prior to my becoming president, the association had to give up family benefits for nontenured teachers.”
That meant that new employees received health benefits only for themselves and not their dependents until they reached tenure. Support staff benefits were also tiered and, beginning in 2011, support staff were only eligible for single benefits.
“This was an unacceptable situation for our members,” Angelozzi says.
It wasn’t until the district began to have issues filling positions that they were motivated to make changes, but they only wanted to provide family benefits to nontenured teachers. They offered nothing for support staff.
“The membership voted it down,” Angelozzi recalls. “My membership said unless everyone is taken care of, we aren’t doing it.”
At the same time, the association was putting in the work to build relationships, community support and member unity so that when the time came for negotiations, they would be in the strongest position possible.
Led by Vice President Tracy Angelozzi, the HEA’s community outreach included events and activities funded by NJEA Pride grants (now known as PEP grants) and NJEA FAST grants. These events helped build a positive view of HEA in the eyes of the board and the community.
HEA Negotiations Chair Geoff Gollihur guided the team thanks to his vast experience with bargaining. His expertise was vital in helping to educate the team about the process and past bargaining cycles.
At the same time, Anthony Angelozzi was working to build relationships and establish a respectful working culture with administration.
“I speak with the superintendent multiple times a week,” Angelozzi says. “A lot of local presidents are told they’re equal, but it’s not felt in fact. When I became president in 2019, I came in with the expectation that I am an equal and that we are going to work together to make decisions.”
Building an inclusive negotiations team
In addition to building relationships with administrators and within the community, HEA also focused on building a negotiations team that was truly reflective of the membership. HEA wanted a team where members felt that their voices were heard and heeded.
“For the negotiations team, our bylaws require us to have two certified staff members per building, over four buildings, and one representative from each group, such as secretaries, custodians, instructional aides, etc. We made sure that no one was left out of the process.”
The team worked to identify the priorities of its members, particularly educational support professionals (ESPs). They held focus groups and one-on-one conversations.
“We knew going into bargaining that our primary issue was to obtain medical insurance coverage for full-time ESPs and their families. We would not settle until that happened.”
Hammonton is a very tightly connected community, and this was another asset for the association.
“So many people who work in our district live in Hammonton,” Angelozzi says. “We’re sitting across from board members, and we have kids the same age, we look at each other as neighbors and friends. Having that foundation of trust is what allows us to have a healthy negotiation. Thanks to our community outreach activities, we were able to support some of the board’s priorities. We showed them time and again that we go above and beyond, and we’ve earned what we’re asking for.”
Leaning on experience and respect
The HEA also benefited from Angelozzi’s experience. An NJEA UniServ consultant since 2022, Angelozzi has extensive training in bargaining contracts and has helped other associations negotiate. Lateefah Scott, a teacher in Atlantic City and a UniServ consultant who participated in Hammonton’s contract negotiations, noted that Angelozzi approached the process in a very organized and structured way.
“We caucused every time as a negotiating team before we met with the board,” Scott says. “That allowed for everyone to have a voice. Every job category and interest was represented in the room, and everyone had a chance to express themselves and be very clear about the process before we met with the board. Once we were in the room with the board, we were extremely unified in how we were going to present the information.”
As Scott points out, respect was a huge factor.
“I’ve seen negotiations in a lot of different locals,” Scott says. “We get support in every negotiation from NJEA, and we usually see the same people: the field representative, Research Division staff. But the Hammonton board’s team really respected the information we presented and the HEA/NJEA team that we had. It was a great thing to witness.”
Stephanie Tarr, who was Hammonton’s UniServ field representative at the time of negotiations, has been through hundreds of rounds of negotiations as a local leader and as an NJEA staffer.
“This round of negotiations was a perfect example of a local utilizing the NJEA staff resources at its disposal. Of course, I was there to assist as the field representative, but they also had the help of my colleague, Associate Director of Research and Economic Services Greg Yordy. Greg joined us at the table to help the board realize that our proposals were feasible, and I believe his input was crucial.
“I must also credit my good working relationship with the board attorney,” Tarr continues. “She and I have worked together to solve problems in a number of locals, and we have established professional trust. We can rely on each other to tell the truth about where our respective teams’ limits are, and this has been instrumental in getting deals that are good for both parties without the process turning ugly.”
Angelozzi, who is in his 17th year of teaching, was adamant that as an all-inclusive local, every member’s interests should be recognized.
I’m a teacher, but I truly believe all employees should be treated equally,” Angelozzi says. “Every person should be able to get benefits for their families. A union member is a union member. It’s incumbent on certified staff to fight even harder for the support staff. That shows our true character and values as union members.”
A contract for all members
As a result of their hard work, the association was able to settle a fair contract after about three months of bargaining. Thanks to their unity and tenacity, the HEA negotiated the following without any givebacks:
- Created a pathway for family benefits for ESPs.
- Increased salaries for custodial, maintenance, grounds and secretarial staff.
- Increased salaries by 3.5%, 3.5% and 3.6%, inclusive of increment.
- Bargained greater than single benefits for all teachers.
- Bargained five days of bereavement leave for pregnancy loss.
- Diapering/toileting stipend for preschool paraprofessionals.
- Release time for HEA leadership.
- Reimbursement for successful completion of the paraprofessional Praxis test.
- Vacation carryover for 12-month employees.
- Reimbursement for PT/OT/Speech therapist licensure.
In October 2024, HEA was a finalist for an NJEA Jim George Collective Bargaining Award on the strength of the contract it negotiated. While the Plainfield Education Association was ultimately named the winner, HEA was one of the top five associations in the state for its contract.
“I was excited that Hammonton was a finalist for the Jim George award,” Scott says. “I felt like we had a chance of winning it because of what we were able to get for the educational support professionals. You could tell that Anthony really wanted to make a difference for his members, particularly ESPs. We need to continue to push to advance the interests of all our members, and learning more about how other districts accomplish these grant contracts benefit all of us.”
“I am so incredibly proud of the negotiations team for setting a goal and sticking together to achieve that goal,” Tarr says. “They worked very hard to get this deal and they deserve to be honored.”
Kathryn Coulibaly is the associate editor of the NJEA Review and provides content and support to njea.org. She can be reached at kcoulibaly@njea.org.