Many of you know, the teachers in the KC MO School District have been
working without a contract since July. For teachers this has been a
stressful year. No contract means no raises, no rules, working extra
hours for no extra pay, no money for classroom supplies, planning time
has been cut in half and no longevity bonuses normally given out at Christmas.
Principals are now free to ignore discipline referrals and interrupt classes with intercom
announcements.
The district always negotiates with teachers first, then the
custodial, cafeteria workers, maintenance employees and the
administrators. All district employees must wait for a settlement with
teachers to begin their own negotiations with the district. These
employees are paid hourly and depend on regular raises to support
their families. No district employees have received raises this year.
This ploy is an attempt by the school district to break the teachers
union; to paint the teachers as the problem in the district. Yes the
district has problems, but the teachers and the union are not the weak
link. In the 39 years the district has had 25 superintendents, the
teachers union has had only 3 presidents. We need community support
for the teachers to resolve this situation.
You can help in a couple ways:
1. Contact school board members and encourage them to direct the
district administration to negotiate fairly. Most board members are
telling the teachers they are waiting for district administrators to
settle with the teachers unit. It is not happening. The administrators
have sent inexperienced negotiators, who have had to learn on the job
and are picking apart the contract at each session. At this rate, it
will be years before the contract is finally agreed upon. A list of
board members and contact info can be found here:
http://mo.aft.org/691/index.cfm?action=article&articleID=28777cc7-32c...2. On Monday Dec 22, please come and picket the School Board Vice
President Arthur Benson's house. All pro-union citizens are invited to
join us. We need to call the public’s attention to the problem.
The picket is on 36th Street between Cherry and Kenwood at 5:30.
3. On Wed, Jan 7th, Judy Morgan, president of KCFT, will be the speaker
at the GKC DFA meeting. Californo's in Westport at 7 pm.
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