Burlington’s teachers and its school board reached a tentative agreement on a new contract Wednesday night, the eve of a planned strike.
The details of the agreement were not immediately disclosed. Ira Lobel, a federal mediator who led the daylong negotiating effort that stretched into the evening hours, announced to waiting reporters Wednesday night that the agreement had been signed.
Shortly after that, the head of the Burlington teachers’ union issued a statement saying everyone would benefit from the deal.
“I am pleased to tell Burlington students, parents and residents that school will begin on time tomorrow morning,” said Fran Brock, a Burlington High School history teacher who serves as the president of the Burlington Education Association. “I know this has been a hard road, but we’re pleased to have reached an agreement with the school board.”
Terms of the agreement won’t be made public until it is ratified by both parties.
“This is terrific news for Burlington’s students,” Brock said. “In the end, the board shares the same deep devotion to the city’s children as we do, and our teams were able to reach an agreement that will allow us all to devote ourselves to making our schools even better for all of our students.”
All day Wednesday, the two sides — in separate rooms — kept up discussions, through Lobel, at the district’s headquarters.
The conflict over pay and benefits had lasted more than a year. In September, the school board imposed employment terms that gave teachers an average raise of around 2.75 percent but cut certain perks and increased teachers’ share of health insurance costs.
Teachers subsequently picketed. They voted to authorize a strike starting Thursday, pending the outcome of the final attempts at mediation.
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Given that the raise mandated by the Board was less than the objective finder of fact recommended, I’m glad the parties were able to put enough of the bad blood behind them to make the choice to agree. Unions have one tool to keep management at a bargaining table, and it is the strike. Here they used it, and the parties came to an agreement. The Board was a bully. The union bullied back. Now they are in agreement, which suggests they could have reached one before without bullying. All in all, good result, bad way to get there.
The teachers can celebrate with their fat paychecks and months of vacation today, but voters will remember their greed. I commend the school board for fighting back against their demands to keep or increase insane benefits like five-figure checks for an entire career’s-worth of unused sick days. As if $90,000/year isn’t enough compensation on top of their generous retirement benefits?
Going forward I will vote for school board members who are brave enough to fight back against the abusive and nasty tactics used by the teacher’s union. I will vote against every school budget that includes raises for teachers as long as their salaries are double most households in Burlington.
I reject the premise of supporting teachers, they do not need support and they actively deserve our condemnation. Teachers do not support us or their community, they are bleeding everyone dry and laughing all the way to the bank. And the spa. And the beach.
Those fat cat teachers. Those of us who feel our taxes are too high should do our best to tear them down. There’s no room for people earning decent wages in this state. Use our taxes to build the tall mall. We need more clerk jobs.
You appear to be incapable or unwilling to hear what people are saying about the significant difference between: a) the salaries of public, government employees — i.e., teachers — and their never-ending demand for more, more, more and b) the income of the average Vermonters who are supporting those public employees and their inability to sustain the public employees’ never-ending demands for more. You repeat the same, tired talking point over and over.
knowyourassumptions, have you met the kettle?