Pasco, Prosser teachers move closer to strike
The sides in the Pasco School District’s labor dispute are scheduled to meet every day through Aug. 31, but time is running out before a possible teachers strike.
School is scheduled to open Sept. 1. But school district spokeswoman Leslee Caul said that won’t happen if the nearly 1,100 members of the Pasco Association of Educators decide to strike.
The district will not open school with replacement teachers. “There was never any plan for (replacements) to be used,” she said Friday.
Negotiators from the district met briefly Friday morning with representatives from the Pasco Association of Educators, union President Greg Olson said.
“Today was definitely not a very productive day,” he said. However, he added that the district plans to put forward a new offer Saturday.
Pasco teachers could vote on a contract offer at an Aug. 31 meeting or move forward with a strike, Olson said. Seventy-seven percent of members at an Aug. 12 union meeting voted to strike if no new contract was agreed to.
“Three more days of negotiations with a state mediator this week have concluded with no significant new proposals to resolve the district’s lack of curriculum, materials, over-crowded classes and low pay,” Washington Education Association spokesman Dale Folkerts said in a statement.
Also Friday, 98 percent of the Prosser School District’s teachers voted to strike Sept. 8 if no contract is in place by the second week of school, said state union regional director Jim Gow.
Teachers in Prosser want to see the school district follow a standardized evaluation process that the state is putting in place. But Gow said the district wants to give principals the power to run the process how they want.
“The district has essentially refused to look at the language in other contracts, not only in our area, but across the state,” he said.
Prosser is also well behind other area school districts in pay, Gow said.
The new Delta High School also will be closed Sept. 1 if Pasco teachers go on strike.
The Pasco School District, which shares Delta with Kennewick and Richland districts, announced Friday that it would not open the science-, technology-, engineering- and math-focused school because of concerns from the other districts’ teachers unions about crossing a picket line.
Olson said the union is open to a two- or three-year agreement after initially discussing a one-year deal. It had asked for an 11.2 percent pay increase for one year, but would also consider an 8 percent raise in 2015-16 to be followed by a 6 percent increase the next school year.
“We know the curriculum issue is going to take a few years to get done,” he said. “In Year 1, we want to get something in place that the teachers can agree to.”
The union’s Aug. 21 proposal called for an additional $1,000 per elementary teacher and $875 per secondary teacher for additional curriculum and materials, according to the district.
The Pasco district also said its year-round classified employees will continue to work if there is a strike. That includes union, non-union and exempt employees.
Pay and benefits will not be interrupted if school resumes by mid-September. The district said it will work with the unions and employees to address pay and benefits if a strike last longer than that.
The district also announced that students who attend Tri-Tech Skills Center in Kennewick can use Ben Franklin Transit passes to get there if Pasco buses aren’t available. The passes will be available Aug. 31 at Chiawana, New Horizons and Pasco high schools.
In an Aug. 20 letter to parents, Pasco Superintendent Saundra Hill wrote that it is the state’s failure to meet its obligations in the McCleary decision that is harming teachers.
“The fact remains that paying teachers is a state-level responsibility and our Legislature is not providing adequate funding to Pasco, or any other Washington school district.
The district plans to update parents through its website, and Facebook and Twitter pages. Parents also can sign up for text and email alerts at www.psd1.org/Page/6800.
“I know this is a tough time, but the teachers truly appreciate the support they have been getting from our parents and our community,” Olson said.
Geoff Folsom: 509-582-1543; gfolsom@tricityherald.com; Twitter: @GeoffFolsom
This story was originally published August 28, 2015 at 8:04 PM with the headline "Pasco, Prosser teachers move closer to strike."