Hello CTU!

I’m writing with the follow up to our negotiation session with the district on 4/8.

The district has made movement on a variety of topics, but unfortunately little movement on the things that matter most to our members and our students, like paid leave, wages, and class size and caseload caps. For example, the district began with a proposal for two weeks of paid parental leave, a raise of 54 cents per hour for our step 1 paraprofessionals, which would bring their starting salary to $24,189.63 per year, and rejected class size and caseload caps without acknowledgement. We find this an unacceptable starting place for a district in crisis. Our members and our students deserve more. 

We will need member support to win the changes we need for our schools. We want to pack the negotiation room with silent reps when we present our counter proposal package on April 29th and let school committee know what is happening in negotiations on May 2nd. Sign up at those links. If you’re interested in larger participation, please scroll to the next steps at the bottom!  

What Happened

Because of our efforts and organizing, the district changed their approach at the negotiation table. This time, nearly every member of the district’s negotiating team spoke about why they were making their various proposals. They also responded to all of our proposals, demonstrating an increased seriousness on their side of the table.

Unfortunately, a lot of those responses are inadequate and disappointing. In addition to only two weeks of pay for parental leave, their opening proposals for wages for clerks and paraprofessionals in particular are far below where we need to be, offering only a 10% raise over the life of the contract. The district also remains committed to their sick leave and sick bank proposals, again asking for monthly accrual of sick time and taking a day every year in order to access the sick bank.

The union is not impressed by where they are starting on these proposals, and we will address this in our counter proposals. 

The district has agreed to some language around alumni hiring incentives, multilingual stipends, and paraprofessional diapering differentials. They are looking to phase in the multilingual and paraprofessional stipends. We will also be addressing these in our counter proposals.

After we caucused, we shared testimony that members submitted about our lack of paid parental leave. This testimony was extremely powerful and I am incredibly grateful for the bravery and vulnerability that went into sharing it. THANK YOU to those who submitted. It made a visible impact on the district’s team. 

We finished by presenting our opening wage proposals to the district and emphasizing the ongoing disparity with surrounding districts. You can see those proposals here. 

We need our members to continue showing their support as we continue to fight for paid leave, living and competitive wages, and the working conditions we need to create the schools our students deserve.

Next Steps

So…. how can you help?

Like and comment on our CTU social media. The district is noticing this, which helps build our power!

We are also looking to increase our silent rep numbers and for members to testify about the need for more competitive wages and class size and caseload caps at our next session. Please sign up for that or to be a silent rep here!

We also want to make sure the community is aware of our contract proposals. You can sign up to speak at the May School Committee meeting here!

In solidarity,

CTU Negotiating Team