Fresno teachers ‘at the brink,’ union says. They’ll file labor grievances amid COVID
Union officials representing teachers in the Fresno Unified School District announced Thursday they will file grievances against the district for longstanding issues that they say have grown worse amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The three grievances relate to losses in personal time, preparation time and forcing teachers to act as substitutes for their colleagues, according to Manuel Bonilla, president of the Fresno Teachers Association.
“These are contractually protected rights,” he said Thursday. “These are not only rights, but educators need this time to serve students.”
Many teachers are forced to work longer hours to make up for the time they are missing as the pandemic adds on extra responsibilities, Bonilla said.
Approximately 67% of the educators in the union said they have considered stress leave, early retirement or a career change this year, according to a number provided by the union.
Bonilla said overworked FUSD teachers deserve to be compensated, adding that stress could also affect the education of children in the fourth-largest district in the state.
“It’s an overlapping of many different issues,” he said. “We have so many people that are at the brink and this is not good for the school system.”
FUSD officials are speaking with teachers in good faith and looking for a solution that does not reduce the amount of time children are learning, according to a statement supplied by Nikki Henry, the chief communications officer for the district.
“The proposals received from Fresno Teachers Association at current all include reducing instructional minutes for students and revising school schedules during the last 30 days of the semester,” the statement says.
The issues at hand were brought to the district’s attention less than a month ago, the statement says.
The district has also implemented a slew of services and benefits to help teachers during the pandemic, the statement says, including collaborating with labor groups to increase the substitute pool as well as providing an additional $200 in financial resources to teachers for classroom resources.
FUSD students have lost about 28% of their learning time during the pandemic compared to years before, according to the district. “Knowing this, the district is unwilling to compromise student’s instructional minutes with their teachers or change and disrupt schedules of families with five weeks left in the semester,” the statement says.
This story was originally published October 28, 2021 at 11:08 AM.
