ADAMS TWP — The Mars Area Education Support Professionals Association narrowly voted to accept the collective bargaining agreement offered by the district before the deadline Friday.

It was a move to save the jobs of the custodians in the group, the union president said, after the district announced in July that it would subcontract the custodians' positions if the union did not accept the board's final proposal by Sept. 1.

The district announced Thursday that the union representing custodial, secretarial and paraprofessional employees accepted the district's proposal after more than two years of negotiations.

“The district is very pleased to learn the good news that the majority of the union membership has accepted our proposal,” said Dayle Ferguson, school board president.

“Compromise has not come easy, given where both parties started this discussion back in 2015. The membership's acceptance starts positive momentum for board action on Tuesday,” she said.

The union, however, felt pushed into the decision, said William Wise, union president.

Brooke Witt, UniServ representative with the Pennsylvania State Education Association, said she asked the board to reconsider its position and come back to the table to negotiate.

“A little over a third of our group are custodians, most of whom live paycheck to paycheck, most of whom aren't in a place to have a work stoppage,” said Witt, the union negotiator.

The school board will vote on the contract at its Tuesday work session meeting at 7 p.m. at the district's administration office, 545 Route 228, Mars. If the board votes against accepting the contract, the two sides could go back to the negotiating table.

The board's offer takes spouse and family health care benefits away from all members; 16 employees use the spouse and family health care benefits.

Only union members hired before July 1, 2012, were eligible for the spouse and family health care benefits.

While the board's proposal increases wages for workers, it is not enough to cover the cost of buying health insurance out of pocket for a family, something that could cost anywhere from $8,000 to $10,000, Witt said.

“It really puts these folks in an awful position,” Witt said.

The union voted Wednesday to accept the contract, and it passed with about 60 percent approval, Witt said.

The younger union membership mainly voted for the contract, Wise said, some because they were afraid of losing their jobs.

Wise said his heart is broken over the vote and the board's unwillingness to negotiate further.

“To me there was no winner in this,” he said. “I think the district is a loser. They lost a lot of good people and they're going to lose more.”

There are about 75 people in the union now, although its numbers are typically at about 88, Witt said. Many employees already left for other jobs or accepted the early retirement incentive.

The board's proposal also eliminates the union's early retirement incentive at the end of December. Wise anticipates more people will leave the district by the end of the year.

The board has been in negotiations with the support personnel union since January 2015. The previous contract expired on June 30, 2015. The new contract, if accepted by the board, will run through June 30, 2020.

Attorney Tom Breth, the district's negotiator, could not be reached for comment.