Friday, January 21, 2000
Cincinnati teachers ready for strike vote
Talks have failed to resolve issues
BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati Public Schools teachers will decide Monday whether to authorize a strike if district administrators don't meet their demands in contract negotiations.
An independent, state-appointed fact-finder's report is due today. That report, which targets 27 unresolved issues, will become binding unless the school board or union members reject it within seven days by a three-fifths vote.
CFT President Tom Mooney doesn't expect he'll be satisfied with the report.
“There is always the chance that the fact-finder is smarter than Solomon, but I doubt it,” he said.
Members of the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers (CFT) will meet at 5 p.m. Monday at Music Hall to discuss the report and decide whether to authorize the union's 22-member executive committee to call a strike.
The union's last strike was a one-day walkout in 1979; members' chief complaint then was low wages.
The school board will meet at 7 p.m. Monday at district headquarters, 2651 Burnet Ave., Corryville.
Attorneys representing the 45,600-student district and its 3,200 teachers began negotiating in December. The current three-year contract, set to expire Dec. 31, was extended through this month until both sides vote on the fact-finder's report.
Administrators and CFT leaders disagree on key issues including:
• Class size. CFT wants to reduce class size to 15-18 students in grades K-3 if voters approve two levies in March. The current contract caps classes at 28-30 students and provides aides or extra pay for bigger classes.
Instead of capping class size, administrators want to reduce caseload per teacher by 5-6 students per class. The union contends that could require cutting art, music or gym teachers, counselors, librarians and social workers.
• Charter schools. CFT wants district-approved charter schools to use district teachers. Administrators want those schools to be able to hire staffers from wherever they find them.
• Salary. CFT wants 4 percent pay raises a year. Administrators want to freeze teacher salaries until August and then give 2 percent annual raises for the three-year contract's last two years.
CPS teachers are the highest paid among Ohio's eight urban districts and second highest paid in Hamilton County.
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