That little glimmer of light from downtown Detroit may just be the end of the tunnel coming into sight. This announcement was posted on the Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT) website a few hours ago.
Negotiators for the DFT and the school district have managed to hammer out a tentative agreement after an all-night bargaining session that ended at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday. Details of the tentative pact will be presented to the DFT Executive Board later this morning. The breakthrough in the 16-day work action came after Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick entered the talks Monday evening. Additional details will be posted as soon as they are available.
After the Executive Board approves the tentative agreement, a meeting of the entire 9,500 member union will be held at Cobo Center, (think a small college gym that has seen better days). The membership will hear from Local 231 President, Janna Garrison. She will discuss the tentative agreement. Speakers from the floor will ask questions or attempt to persuade the crowd to their position. Eventually, a voice vote will be taken to decide if we will agree to return to work under the old contract while we wait for the official materials (ballots, tentative agreement, etc.) to be printed and distributed. A vote date will be set in about 2 – 3 weeks.
If the voice voice is in favor of the tentative agreement, we go back to that day and the students will probably start back on Thursday, Sept. 14th. If the voice votes rejects the tentative agreement, we stay out and a demoralized and weakened bargaining committee tries to reopen negotiations. At this point, unity is under stress as those members who supported the tentative agreement have to decide whether to stay out.
This is a key moment. In the past a vocal minority has hi-jacked the meeting and rejected offers that the majority later endorsed. Many teachers, upon hearing that a tentative agreement was reached, will not go to meeting, but will go straight to school and begin setting up their rooms. The faction that favors a strike at all costs always turns out their membership. The leader of that faction is already on TV claiming that the union, whose leadership he has repeatedly failed to capture in elections, will not return if there are any concessions. Anyone with common sense knows that we have to give on Health Care. (The health care mess nationally has been covered here by people more knowledgeable than me.)
Compare my Health Care benefits to yours to see what I mean. Prescriptions $3.00. Free vision care. Family Health care with Blue Cross for about $75/month. Free dental.
Until the time when being an American means you have a right to health care, we in the DFT have it pretty good. We will, I suspect, have to give slightly here. The real battle over universal health care needs to fought in Washington. I’m certain that is what Bush will hear when he meets with the Big 3 execs soon.
Judge Borman is quietly waiting to see what happens with the tentative agreement. Now we must wait to see the details. I hope we have a contract worthy of the commitment we’ve made. Thank you to the many members of the Booman community who have expressed their support for our cause. I hope I can return that support as I get to you and your causes better.
Oh, one last thing. Whatever happens in this strike, the struggle to shine a light into the mismanagement of the Detroit Public Schools will go on. It is one small part of the fight to provide the best education possible to every child in America, not just to those lucky ones who won the birth lottery.