Jul 3, 2008 8:13 am US/Eastern
UTD Asks Teacher Raises Be Honored
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
Two days before July 4th and some fireworks were seen at a Miami-Dade School Board contract negotiations meeting on Wednesday, as the teachers union sat down for another round of contentious talks.
The teachers are fighting for a pay raise promised in their contract. The United Teachers of Dade (UTD) is demanding the Superintendent honor their contract and give them a pay raise that was supposed to go into effect on Tuesday.
In an effort to shave $70 million off the 2008-2009 fiscal years budget, Miami-Dade Public School administrators used a loophole in their contract with United Teachers of Dade to cancel a contractually agreed upon pay increase and open new negotiations.
Seth Patterson and his wife, both music teachers, showed up at the meeting and were among the many teachers who were upset.
"How are we supposed to stay here in the State of Florida, and have children and be able to afford it with so much going on, when other states are offering much more competitive salaries," said Patterson.
Last Sunday, tempers flared as School Board members met with union representatives and teachers to discuss the options available. At one point board members walked out of the meeting. This time around things didn't get so heated.
"We are here to find solutions. They want to characterize this as 'the district has the money they're withholding from us,' We don't have the money because we never got the money from Tallahassee," said Ofelia San Pedro from Miami-Dade Public Schools.
San Pedro also said the impending budget problems have had an effect on administrators like herself.
"Well, we've cut our salaries. What they're not thinking is that we went to a board meeting, and we all took a furlough. We all gave up days of pay. So, we have cut our salaries. I cut my salary five days. I also gave up my vehicle; that was a benefit the district gave me."
Superintendent Rudy Crew was not at the public meeting on Sunday.
Faced with $250 million budget deficit for the 2008-2009 year, School Board members have approved a number of changes and the elimination 2-thousand positions in an effort to come up with a balanced budget.
During the meeting on Wednesday, June 25th, the School Board determined that even with the job cuts and changes they've proposed the funding provided by the state would still be inadequate to support district operations for the 2008-2009 fiscal year.
According to a statement by the Miami Dade Public School system:
This action allowed the Superintendent to re-open salary negotiations with all bargaining units. At the same Board meeting, union members demanded to re-open negotiations immediately. As a result, the Superintendent sent letters and notified bargaining unit leaders by telephone that the District is now available to begin negotiations. The District's bargaining team is ready to begin negotiations and is planning to meet as early as Sunday, June 29, 2008. The District has completed the analysis of all cost-saving suggestions provided by the unions and is prepared to discuss this information in detail with the unions.
The United Teachers of Dade said when Superintendant Rudy Crew sent a letter to the union canceling contractually agreed to salary increases for 39-thousand teachers that were supposed to go into effect on July 1st he violated the school districts agreement with the union.
"This is legal trickery and beyond the Superintendent's authority. Crew and his accomplices can spin it, they can call it a freeze, a cut, a renegotiation - we call it for what it is -- theft." said UTD President Karen Aronowitz.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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