Time running out for new teacher contracts

Time is running out for Philadelphia's teachers. Union leaders will decide shortly whether the city's nearly quarter of a million students will have classes to go to on Monday. Ongoing negotiations between the city and its teachers have until tonight to produce a new teachers' contract. Should that deadline expire, members of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers -- the union which represents the cities educators -- may initiate a strike, to the dismay of many parents and a frustrated Mayor John Street. "A school strike benefits no one," Street said in a televised statement last night. At 7 p.m. last night, Street imposed a 24-hour deadline to produce an agreement. Negotiations over a new contract -- the original contract which city teachers had been working under expired September 1 under state law Act 46 -- began nine months ago. "This action is not taken lightly," Street said as he authorized the school district to impose any number of provisions in an interim contract if an agreement is not reached before the deadline. Union leaders have indicated that a strike is imminent should the city dictate a contract. "If the mayor insists on forcing a work stoppage, let everyone know that the results of that stoppage rest on the mayor's head," PFT President Ted Kirsch warned at a press conference following Street's remarks. "Tonight, 210,000 children and 21,000 school employees are facing a crisis unnecessarily because the mayor's idea of negotiating is to force an agreement on teachers," Kirsch said yesterday. Street, however, said that a work stoppage, should it occur, would result from "the unwillingness of the PFT." "Teachers will be provided generous raises" under the city's plan, Street said. The city and the school district are offering a 17 percent raise over the next five years and a $500 bonus in return for an hour increase in the workday. The PFT feels that the raise in pay would not be a fair compensation. "That amounts to a pay cut," Kirsch said of the city's offer. City teachers contend the increase of the work-day amounts to six weeks of extra time. Their salaries, the offered raise taken into account, would still fall short of those of teachers in the surrounding suburbs. "Philadelphia is very, very low when it comes to surrounding districts concerning teacher pay," PFT chief negotiator Jerry Jordan said during yesterday's briefing. "We started out at 21.5 percent below the salary averages of the four suburban school districts," Kirsch said. "Now the mayor wants to renege on his promise to make our salaries competitive." Should the teachers walk out -- under state law they must provide a 48-hour notice, meaning Monday can be the earliest day of no classes -- the state could take over the district under Act 46, as well as revoke Philadelphia teachers' teaching certificates. "This was really not a negotiation," Kirsch said. "They were saying, if you don't do this, we're going to take over. This is not a fair way to treat people." Street maintains that a negotiated contract would be best for the education system. "The best solution is for the district and the [PFT] to agree on mutually acceptable terms," he said. With time running out, blame is already being assigned. "We met our part of the bargain," Kirsch said. "They have not."