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Bus drivers and custodians, classified employees, and supervisory personnel represented by the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 21 all received 3.2 percent pay-and-benefits package increases from the Berkeley Unified School District next year, while teachers and administrators received total compensation raises of 2.1 percent. 

That information was contained in five separate labor agreements ratified last Wednesday by the BUSD Board of Directors. 

The tentative agreements were announced earlier this year by BUSD Superintendent Michele Lawrence, and have been approved by the Alameda County Office of Education. 

Their ratification ends a contentious year of labor unrest in the district, in which teachers staged a months-long work-to-rule job action and held several demonstrations preceding board meetings in the plaza in front of Old City Hall. 

The district’s 325 classified employees will see the lowest actual increase next year, with salary and benefits package raises amounting to an average $1,556 per employee. 

The district’s 200 bus drivers and custodians will see a $1,734 total compensation raise, the 540 teachers a $1,757 raise, the 38 administrators a $2,661 raise, and the 13 Local 21 members a $2,892 raise. 

In all, the total salary and benefits increases will cost the district $1.9 million over year’s budget, an amount that has already been factored into the 2005-06 budget passed by the Board of Directors last Wednesday.e