The teachers have been working without a contract since June 2015, when their latest three-year contract expired.
HAMILTON -- Negotiators for the Hamilton teachers union and the township school board met with a mediator this week in ongoing contract talks, but both sides left the table without a deal, the teacher's union said in an email posted on social media.
The marathon session started Monday evening, May 9, and concluded 12 hours later, at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday, the email said.
"Agreements were worked out on a majority of the unresolved proposals but on the two most important issues, insurance and salary, we could not reach agreement," the email said.
An HTEA official on Thursday declined to discuss the letter, or the meeting. And the school board's lead negotiator could not be reached for comment.
Last year, a New Jersey Education Association union official assisting the HTEA said both sides of the bargaining table have a media gag order.
The teachers have been working without a contract since June 2015, when their latest three-year contract expired, officials have said.
The district's teacher's union, the Hamilton Township Education Association (HTEA), has about 900 teachers, but the 1,350-member union also includes custodians, cafeteria staff, librarians, guidance counselors, nurses, bus drivers and speech therapists.
"Your team tried very hard during the twelve hours of negotiations to find common ground. We were successful in most areas, but the Board's insurance proposal and the corresponding salary offer over three years was a difficult hurdle to jump," said the emailed letter, sent by Robert H. Howland, the chair of the HTEA's negotiating team.
The email also says the HTEA agreed to meet with the board again in June, but that the board had not agreed and the negotiations will likely be referred to fact finding mediation.
"We offered numerous alternatives and adjustments to our insurance coverage in an attempt to reach a settlement," the letter says. "Our goal was to keep the framework of our current insurance and to avoid any attempt to place our insurance coverage into the State Health Benefit Plan.
The letter also took issue with the board's budget, saying it adopted a budget that "did not realistically foresee" the expected costs of our the union health care benefits and created an $11 million deficit.
"Funds that had been dedicated to our salary increases were greatly impacted by the Board's budgetary decisions," the letter said. "Your team was not able to see a path or solution given the information presented to us that would be acceptable to our members."
Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find NJ.com on Facebook.