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.
Thanks for the update.
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.
The above is very important to continue.
I have an additional suggestion. I noticed the local public schools publish all kinds of things on a regular basis about students – from sports info to participation in special events to various achievements and recognition. What is not published regularly, if at all, are the things teachers do in the community, additional courses taken, additional certification or degree achieved, etc.
This is important information for a community to know, especially if you would like greater community appreciation and support. There are lots of taxpayers who do not have children in the schools and do not know or have forgotten what teachers do.
My local paper will often have various pundits on the editorial page who promote charter schools as “competition” to the public schools so the public schools will improve. They portray teachers as pretty dang close to being “godless commies.”
There is never a counter LTE from the teachers’ association.
When the local teachers were negotiating for a contract, there were all sorts of rumors flying around the community about beginning pay and sabbaticals. Some of these made it into LTEs. Finally the association’s president wrote an LTE with facts which stopped the flow of misinformation.
Info on the website – info in community papers – get the word out to the community!
Best wishes for a settlement.
Great ideas! I’ll talk to some people about it when things settle down here. I’ll see if I can get a friendly reporter to go along with us. I attended an excellent seminar a few years back where the presenter suggested we hang our degrees and awards in our classrooms, so that the families of our students see how qualified we are. I almost did it, but was warned off by a fellow teacher. (I was new then and I listened. Sometimes.)
That my best friend was a reporter made a huge difference when our new local was negotiating the first contract many years ago. I’ve always tried to be a good and reliable media source, whatever the cause. It really pays to be nice to reporters. Most of them are appreciative if I can make their job easier.
The very best of luck with your contract. I hope its settled soon.
Thanks for the update. I hope things go well with the vote.
The hard truth is neither side ever “wins” a strike. Both have to make concessions.
Thanks for hanging in with the teaching profession in a large city’s public schools.
Hi Teach. I have been staying abreast of your diaries and I do have to say there have been lots to digest. Since my children have all grown and now am looking at grandchildren in school, I have learned a lot. You have gotten great suggestions here and I for one read one this morning that of publishing the good things that teachers do, to keep the public up with/informed what is going on with teachers. That is a great IDEA. Since I do not have anything to do with school nowadays, it would be great to see this in the papers. Again thanks for sharing a serious matter with us and the problems and solutions that must be taken. Your benefit plan is seemingly better than most. Keep us informed as to how things are going once settled.
You’re right, our benefit plan is better than most. We earned that plan over 40 years of hard fighting. Here in SE Michgan, thousands of retirees and workers are seeing their health benefits sharply cut or done away with altogether. We’ll have to fight to keep ours. I can not tell you the number of times I’ve stood in line at pharmacy and seen people pay $100 – $200 dollars, or worse, ask for a partial prescription because they could not afford it. But wait ! Just keep saying to yourself, “We have the best health care system in the world.” And try not to notice the profits of big Pharma. What a mess.