DIXFIELD — Food service workers in the former SAD 43 school system saw their pay rise to almost that of the other two school districts in the Western Foothills Regional School Unit 10, thanks to action taken by the board last week.

RSU 10 Superintendent Tom Ward said Wednesday that the 12 part-time nutrition employees who work in the Mountain Valley region will receive a 3 percent salary hike for the fiscal year that began July 1.

The agreed-upon contract extends for one year, to end on June 30, 2010, so that negotiations for all nutrition workers in the Dirigo, Buckfield and Mountain Valley regions can begin next year. When those negotiations are completed, the 22 or so nutrition workers in the three regions will work under one contract for the same pay scale.

“The Mountain Valley region nutrition workers are the lowest paid of the three groups,” Ward said, adding that those employees are still not up to the rate paid to the other two food service groups.

The new one-year contract also provides for district-paid health insurance at 85 percent for those who work between 25 and 30 hours.

All bargaining units, such as teachers, educational technicians and secretaries in the three former districts in RSU 10, will negotiate contracts as one group. The merging of all of the bargaining units and pay scales is expected to take at least another one or two years.

eadams@sunjournal.com