Cairo Teachers walking picket lines

Cairo School District teachers started walking the picket lines last Thursday, demanding a fair contract.

The teachers, who have been working without a contract for 10 months, voted early last week to strike Thursday if a contract resolution couldn't be reached.

According to the board of education and the Cairo Association of Teachers, both sides continued negotiations until 10:30 p.m. April 24 in an attempt to avoid a strike.

However both parties were unable to agree on whether the district has funds available to increase the teachers' salaries and benefits. Both sides did agree to select one person to review the district's financial records. Those selected will jointly review the district's financial records and make a joint recommendation to the Association and the Board regarding available funds, based on actual and anticipated expenses and actual and anticipated revenues for salaries and benefits. Both sides also agreed that if the joint recommendation identifies available funds that number will be used to make future economic proposals.

According to the Board of Education, the teachers' association walked away from negotiations early last week because the board did not accept their demands for higher salaries and benefits. Board officials report that the average salary and benefits for a Cairo teacher is $44,000 for nine months, averaging to $248 per workday. The board also indicated that currently Cairo teachers are compensated at a rate "equal or higher than teachers in neighboring school districts."

The teachers' association disputes that they walked away from negotiations. According to Ron Newell, president of the teachers' association, "the meeting ended by mutual agreement so that the CAT bargaining team could report to the membership meeting at the high school."

The board also states that the teachers have "demanded a pay and benefits increase totaling $315,648, which is equal to an annual raise of $4,446 per teacher.

Not true said Newell. "The district has inflated the CAT request by basing it on last year's salary, minus the 3.75 additional salary," he said. "The CAT has made it clear on several occasions that its position is negotiable, stating at the table we do not expect to get that amount of money, but we do not expect to get the pay cut the board is offering."

The board negotiating team has offered the teachers a pay and benefits increase that would cost the district $112,000 which is equal to an annual raise of $1,577 per teacher. The board advised the teachers association "it was making this offer with great reluctance as the costs associated with the offer will result in deficit spending."

Newell disputes that fact also, stating that last year's 3.75 additional salary comes to about $109,000. "They are offering $112,000 -- a total dollar increase of $3,000," he said. "That comes to $42.25 per teacher per year and in addition, the board wants us to start paying $130 per month for health insurance."

The board states it does not think that such a raise is fiscally sound. "The escalating costs of salaries and benefits have put the Education fund in a deficit position for nearly two years," stated the board. "This past year the district borrow $477,000 to meet its financial obligations. This year, the district borrow $326,000 to meet its payroll obligations for April 2002. It is projected that the district will need to borrow a total of $900,000 to meet its financial obligations for this school year."

Representatives of the board and teachers' association met with a group of concerned parents last week. The parents voiced their frustrations and concern in very emotional terms -- taking both sides to task for "putting their children on the street." However, some parents stated the parents shared the blame for allowing their children "to run the streets" long before the teachers' strike.

By Saturday afternoon, board officials were stating that "school administrators would open school for seniors and eighth grade students" starting Tuesday morning.

The association disagreed with this plan, stating that "administrators are not necessarily qualified to teach the subjects that they will be asked to teach" and "the board is putting its principals on the front line of the labor dispute - pitting principals against teachers." This, according to the teachers' association, could run the risk of creating hard feelings between people who work together on a day-to-day basis to educate the children in the Cairo School District. This action, said the association, also ignores the educational requirements of special needs students.