Seattle Teachers Strike On First Day Of School After Halted Negotiations

Seattle teachers were on strike on Wednesday, the first day of school, after contract negotiations with the city’s school district halted.

According to the Seattle Times, the union bargaining team made its announcement on Tuesday night. Shortly after, the Seattle School Board voted five to one to authorize the superintendent to seek legal action to force the teachers and other school employees back to work. The union voted last week, on Thursday, to walk out if negotiations over wages and other issues were not agreed upon by the first day of school. The children’s parents were alerted to find childcare for their kids for Wednesday and beyond.

Phyllis Camapno, the union’s vice president, said that the district came back with a proposal the union “couldn’t take seriously,” and they decided to end negotiations for the night. Seattle Education Association members, which represents approximately 5,000 teachers and staff, were picketing on Wednesday at all of the Seattle schools, Washington’s largest school district, which houses 53,000 school-aged children. The union had offered a $172 million proposal, and the district countered with a $62 million proposal.

“Nobody really wants to strike, but at this point the school board has not come to the table with a serious proposal to get it done,” Campano said, according to Fox News.

If the district seeks legal action, and the court grants it, the union will vote again on whether or not to continue striking to receive a fair contract.

“We will stay out as long as we need to get that done,” Campano said.

“A strike for any reason by District teachers or other personnel is harmful and damaging to the District, our students, and our community,” the board resolution said.

Both parties still remain far apart on certain issues including pay raises, teacher evaluations, and the length of the school day. The district offered a pay increase of nearly nine percent over three years, and the union countered with a 10.5 percent increase over two years, Campano said, adding that the district barely budged from their original offer.

The following is per the Seattle Times.

“In the state budget passed this spring, lawmakers boosted school funding across the state by about $1.3?billion over the next two years. Seattle Public Schools’ share of that is roughly $40?million, and the union wanted some of that to go to raises.”

The district is also wanting to lengthen the school day by 30 minutes starting in the 2017-2018 school year. The Seattle teachers, however, feel this is just a way to make them work more for free.

“It’s disappointing that the school board is grasping at legalistic straws rather than focusing on ways to provide the supports that educators need to be successful with students,” Seattle Education Association President Jonathan Knapp said in a statement earlier this week. “We won’t be scared into abandoning our commitment to winning a fair contract.”

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