San Francisco teachers set Wednesday for strike date

By Adam Martin, Bay City News Service

March 25, 2006

The union representing teachers, substitutes and aides in the San Francisco Unified School District has set Wednesday as the date for their strike authorization vote.

The union will hold a meeting from 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Kezar Pavilion, located at 755 Stanyan St., to discuss the bargaining package and issues that might spur a strike, spokesman Matthew Hardy said Friday.

The union has two further state-mediated negotiating sessions scheduled with the district for April 4 and April 10. "We're not willing to schedule more negotiating sessions,'' Hardy said, though he said the union would not strike until after those two scheduled sessions take place.

"We've been as patient as we could, but the district has not given any indication that they are willing to settle this,'' Hardy said.

The main sticking point in the negotiations has so far been salary. The union wants a 10 percent salary increase over the 18-month contract period, with a 3 percent retroactive raise for the past year. The district has offered 7.5 percent for the period, retroactive to January.

District negotiator Tom Ruiz said last week that he wanted the union to put the district's proposal to its membership for a vote before they held a strike authorization vote.

Hardy, however, said the union has not received a comprehensive proposal from the district. In addition to a salary increase, he said, the union is calling for improved pest control, a phone in every classroom, conflict mediation training for its members and equal protection for paraprofessionals.

"All of these things are still on the table. What are they supposed to vote on?'' he said. Ruiz said that, while the district has not made a comprehensive offer, union members should have enough information to vote.

"If you put all the proposals together that we have given back to the union they would represent a comprehensive proposal. Maybe it has not been packaged as such, but the union has our proposal,'' he said.

Hardy said the strike vote would require a quorum of at least 15 percent of the union's membership to vote by a 2/3 majority in order to authorize a strike. Members, he said, would be able to cast their votes throughout Wednesday's meeting. The result will most likely be read by 8:30 p.m., he said.

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