Faculty at the Mercer County Career Center have been teaching without a contract for 28 months and negotiations between members of the union and the joint operating committee are ongoing.

“We’re getting a little frustrated,” local Pennsylvania State Education Association chief negotiator and career center carpentry teacher Edward Kerr said.

Kerr said they started early-bird negotiations in October 2006. The last contract for the 20 teachers and counselors expired in June 2007, he said, and teachers are working under the old one.

Joint operating committee President David DeForest, who is also president of the Sharpsville school board, said that the board met with union representatives last week and have two more meetings scheduled within the next 10 days.

“We continue to lurch along and have amiable discussions,” said DeForest. “I’m not saying they’re not spirited.”

Due to busy schedules and the number of people involved from across the county, DeForest said both sides probably met an average of about once a month over the past three years.

A fact finder’s report filed with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board after a hearing in May was accepted by the union but rejected by the operating committee.

DeForest said a majority of the board decided the recommendations were not in the committee’s best interest, he said.

The big sticking point is salaries, as it often is with teachers’ contracts, DeForest said. The other big concern in most contract negotiations — health care costs — was settled “right off the bat,” DeForest said.

The fact finder’s report says the wage issue is the most important to both parties and created the most discussion.

Right now, negotiations center on establishing a salary schedule. It used to be that center staff were paid based on the average salaries at area school districts.

Describing the old formula as “tedious and cumbersome is an understatement,” the report states.

Kerr said they just wanted pay in line with what other teachers in the county make.

“That’s all we’ve ever asked for as far as benefits or salary,” he said.

The union asked for raises of 5.3 percent in the first year, 4.2 percent in the second and 4.1 for the remaining year of the contract, which would be retroactive from July 2007 through June 2012.