Hundreds of Boston Teachers Rally to End 20-Month Contract Impasse

BOSTON/Government Center - The Boston Teachers Union held a boisterous rally outside Boston Public Schools district headquarters Wednesday night to build public support for the union's contract goals. Chanting "contract now!" and blowing horns and whistles about 500 teachers students and supporters from other union locals braved freezing temperatures to call for an end to a 20-month impasse in contract negotiations between the teachers' union and the Boston public school administration. Boston teachers are still working under the terms of their last four-year contract which expired in August 2010. Negotiations have been deadlocked ever since despite some 35 meetings between the two negotiating teams. The heads of a host of local unions took turns addressing the cheering protesters packed like sardines between the building entrance and the street including the heads of the Boston Teachers Union the Massachusetts AFL-CIO the Boston Labor Council and the Massachusetts branch of the American Federation of Teachers. BTU President Richard Stutman gave a call-out to leaders of local firefighter postal worker painter and custodial worker unions who joined the rally in a show of support. Stutman blamed Boston Public Schools Superintendent Carol Johnson for the impasse saying the administration had refused to engage in good-faith negotiations for 20 months. "We're in our second year without a contract " he told the crowd. "The Superintendent's website announced today that the Boston public school district is one of the 20 most-improved school districts in the world. ... Is this the way to treat us if we're so good?" Boston city councilors Charles Yancey Frank Baker and Felix G. Arroyo also addressed the rally. "Twenty months without a contract is 10 months too long " said Arroyo adding that his sister and his wife were public school teachers and that he was a graduate of the Boston Public Schools himself. "I'm damn proud to be on this side of the conversation " he said to cheers. After the leaders spoke a couple of hundred protesting teachers massed in back of the district headquarters building outside the first-floor room where the School Committee was meeting chanting "talk to teachers!" and holding signs with that message up against the windows. Marci Fiorini a teacher who was hoisted up to a window by two companions said she could see Superintendent Carol Johnson seated inside talking on her phone while 40 or so people circulated in and out of the room. "Most of the people who saw me were smiling " she said. The rally was part of the union's "Talk to Teachers" campaign which seeks to promote the voices and perspectives of Boston teachers during ongoing contract negotiations. "Everyone is always talking about teachers " said Angela Cristiani the BTU’s political organizer. "We're saying let's talk to teachers about the policies and best practices that work in the classroom." Contract negotiations have stalled over a number of issues including salary increases an extension of the school day and reform of teacher performance evaluations. The teachers' union wants a 10 percent increase in teachers' salaries spread over three years but the school administration says the union is asking for too much instead proposing a five percent increase over four years. The administration says that Boston teachers already earn on average higher salaries than teachers working in other comparably large districts in the state citing public data from the 2009 - 2010 school year. "That may be true " says Stutman. "Those numbers are a couple of years old now and they haven't been independently checked. ... But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep the salary we have proposed. Teachers are high-level professionals and good salaries are needed to retain them." He added that while entry-level teachers in Boston might earn more than professional peers in other school districts more experienced teachers top off at lower salaries. Besides he said "there's no reason that we shouldn’t be paid as much as teachers in say Weston. Our teachers on average spend over $800 out-of-pocket. I will guarantee you that there's no teacher in Weston that has to pay for a blackboard or a white board or an overhead projector or all the other things that our teachers routinely pay for." Matt Wilder a spokesperson for Boston public school superintendent Carol Johnson said that the BTU's demand amounts to a $116 million salary increase that the city can't afford as opposed to the $32 million increase his department proposes. "Our point is that Boston teachers are compensated fairly. ... We certainly think that teachers should be held in very high regard. We pay them well. But 116 million dollars is unreasonable particularly in this economic climate " he said. The Boston Public Schools administration also wants to extend the school day by at least one hour and by as much as 3 1/2 hours in some schools. It wants those extra hours to be contractually mandated. The current school day is 6 1/2 hours long. "Boston teachers work contractually one of the shortest work days in the state " said Wilder. "We think that our kids deserve more time with our teachers." According to the BTU the administration's proposal includes 30 minutes of uncompensated time. The administration argues that their proposal already compensates teachers for the extra 30 minutes through cost-of-living increases automatic "step increases" and "salary lane" changes for teachers who gain further academic training. But the union doesn't see it that way. Paige Griglun a teacher at Excel High School in South Boston who attended Wednesday night's rally said working additional hours would be hard for her because she has to pay for day care for her own school-age children. "I'm willing to do it " she said "but I want to be paid for it." The Boston Teachers Union wants teacher participation in extended day programs to be both voluntary and fully compensated as they are at the Clarence R. Edwards Middle School in Charlestown. That school has offered 3 1/2 extra hours of combined academic and enrichment programs for about five years according to Stephanie Edmeade who directs them. The programs are staffed by both teachers and outside providers. 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