Fresno teachers union, school district ‘optimistic’ after weekend-long negotiations
Fresno school district and teachers union officials are “optimistic” about reaching an agreement in advance of a looming strike.
In a joint statement issued Monday afternoon, the Fresno Unified School District and Fresno Teachers Association said they’ve “spent countless hours over the past weekend making considerable progress to address contract terms.”
The union is scheduled to walk out of classrooms district-wide on Wednesday, potentially disrupting the education of over 70,000 students in California’s third-largest district.
The groups have scheduled a joint news conference for Tuesday morning.
“Both sides are continuing to work through this evening and remain optimistic about continued progress,” the statement said.
The district and union started negotiations last summer, but failed to reach an agreement before a Sept. 29 deadline.
Thousands of teachers turned out to vote earlier this month, saying that the strike was necessary for better pay and working conditions.
The district presented its second proposal earlier this month, which included provisions such as:
A 19% salary increase, which includes the current ongoing 14% increase plus a 5% one-time payment increase
An average teacher salary of $103,000 per year, and contractual language that can increase salary if the projected cost of living statewide increases
A “bridge to Medicare,” instead of lifetime healthcare benefits, “which meets basically the exact same goal”
Reduced class size overage limits for each of the next few years, plus an extra stipend for teachers with classes past those limits
Returning 50 teachers on special assignment back to the classroom to lower class sizes
Teachers union president Manuel Bonilla tore up the district’s proposal the night of the strike authorization vote because the union and district still disagreed on key provisions such as salary increases, class size reductions, special education workloads and the employee health fund.
Last week, the FTA sent a counter proposal to the district and Bonilla confirmed with The Bee they had plans to negotiate over the weekend.
