Seattle Teachers Approve Labor Contract, Vote to End Strike

The Seattle Times reports that of the estimated 3,000 members who attended the meeting, 83 percent of teachers, 87 percent of paraprofessionals and 96 percent of office professionals voted to approve the contract, according to the Seattle Education Association.

Members of the Seattle Education Association have overwhelmingly ratified the recently negotiated tentative contract agreement with the Seattle School District.

After the vote, union President Jonathan Knapp said he wanted to reiterate what a “groundbreaking and far-reaching contract this was”.

The teachers were on duty without a contract since the end of August.

The contract will offer teachers with a 9.5 percent raise in their pay over the next three years, and it will not include state cost-of-living adjustments. For the Seattle school district’s 53,000 students, the strike had delayed the start of the school year by six days. Kids huddled with their friends, parents to helped younger children find new classrooms and many pulled out cameras to snap selfies.

The school district in Seattle will have to reschedule six days of classes, which administrators in the district said might extend the school year or it could shorten the vacation breaks held during midyear. School authorities also informed that the graduation dates for seniors will likely change as well.

Bugge had mixed feelings about the strike, saying, “It’s hard to say”.

The two sides reached a tentative agreement early Tuesday morning.

Several hundred parents, children and other supporters waved signs and chanted as they walked almost 2 miles from Seattle’s Pioneer Square to school district headquarters Tuesday in a previously arranged march to support teachers.

“From day one of this bargain, it’s been about putting our students first”, said Michael Tamayo, an elementary teacher and member of the SEA Bargaining Team. The resolution hails the teachers for including in their strike demands proposals that would drastically improved the quality of public education for students such as ending “high stakes testing”.

“There’s still a long struggle if they vote no, it’s still a long struggle if they vote yes”, said Curran.

Matt Johnson and his daughter planned to ride bikes to school Thursday, when she starts kindergarten at North Beach Elementary.

Sawant’s resolution also cites I-1351, a ballot initiative approved by Washington voters previous year requiring the legislature to provide full funding of the state’s public schools. “It’ll be great to have her back in school”, said Johnson, a massage therapist who patched together child care in the past week by using a community center and alternating schedules with his wife. Union leaders voted that same day to endorse the pact and immediately end the walkout.