Pittsburgh teachers, district to meet with mediator
Contract negotiations between Pittsburgh Public Schools and the teachers union will continue this week with a state mediator.
That next bargaining session has not yet been scheduled, said school district solicitor Ira Weiss.
Negotiators for the school district and the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers held a marathon bargaining session that lasted well past close of business Friday. No agreement was reached, but union officials said progress was made toward reaching a contract.
The teachers union voted overwhelmingly last week to authorize a strike if necessary. The union — representing 2,400 teachers, 565 paraprofessionals and 20 technical-clerical employees — would have to provide at least 48 hours’ notice before a strike could occur.
The length of a potential strike would be determined by the Pennsylvania Department of Education because state law says students are required to have 180 days of instruction between July 1 and June 15 each school year.
Pittsburgh teachers haven’t gone on strike in more than 40 years. The last one dragged on for eight weeks, from December 1975 to January 1976. The union last voted to authorize a strike in October 2007, but a walkout was averted when the union and district agreed on a contract.
Five-year contracts for union members ran out June 30, 2015, and they’ve been working under the terms of a contract extension that ran out in June 2017. The Pittsburgh Public Schools board voted in November to accept an independent fact-finder’s report on the future contract. The union rejected the fact-finder’s suggestions a day later.
The arbitrator suggested raises of 2 percent to earlychildhood teachers and 10 percent for athletic coaches. The union wanted the earlychildhood teachers on the school-age scale and a larger salary increase for coaches that wasn’t specified in its summary.
Union leaders at the time also were upset that the factfinder suggested granting scheduling power to school principals, a provision they said would result in “increasingly poor morale” for members.
But the arbitrator agreed that teachers should be able to transfer schools yearly, instead of every three years, as the district proposed.
District leaders say the ability to give principals scheduling power and removing the “teacher churn” clause of the current contract — which allows teaching positions filled after Aug. 1 to be posted again the next year — remain the two biggest sticking points of the negotiations. The issue of teacher churn in particular results in high turnover rates, particularly at some of the most struggling schools, district officials argue.
Superintendent Anthony Hamlet sent a letter Friday morning to district stakeholders, outlining the district positionduring negotiations.
A section containing frequently asked questions about negotiations and the possibility of a strike is also available on the district website.
A-Plus Schools, a Pittsburgh education watchdog and advocacy group, has been compiling a list of organizations that have offered to help families with child care, meals and other services if a strike occurs, spokeswoman Michelle Massie said.
Tanya Baronti, director of United for Children at the United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania, said the United Way’s 2-1-1 hotline will be a contact point for families and students looking for resources ranging from child care to food if a strike does occur. Her organization is working with APlus schools to be prepared.
Many parents can’t afford to miss work, and many students rely on school for breakfast and lunch every weekday, she said.