The tentative agreement between the Minneapolis School Board and the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers Local 59 was reached Monday after marathon negotiating sessions that ran late into the night over the previous weekend.
The negotiating process, he said, "was ugly."
At a meeting last night in south Minneapolis, teachers got their first look at the proposal. Passions ran high at the meeting.
"There are a lot of people who are unhappy," Panning-Miller said. "Yesterday\'s meeting was a very difficult one." Panning-Miller said about 300 Local 59 members — about one in 10 members — attended the meeting.
Panning-Miller said the two-year agreement adds $20 million to the current package of salaries and benefits.
Highlights of the two-year agreement include:
• 2 percent salary increase in the first year
• 1 percent salary increase in the second year
• Lump sum payment of $750 in the second year.
The agreement maintains fully-paid single health insurance and increases the district\'s annual contribution to family health insurance by $250 in the first year and $500 in the second year. The district initially had proposed dropping a commitment to full single health coverage.
The agreement also protects retiree health insurance.
"We held the line with regard to language that would extend the day or extend the year without appropriate compensation," Panning-Miller added.
Contract language to give school principals more power to "interview and select" teachers would apply to most Minneapolis schools in the first year and to all Minneapolis schools in the second year. This clause of the agreement would expire with the end of the two-year contract.
The MFT Local 59 website lists a schedule of question and answer sessions planned Friday through Saturday. Voting will take place in-person at the MFT Local 59 offices Friday through Monday. Ballots will be counted Jan. 15 and the results announced the same day.
The agreement covers about 3,500 teachers and educational services professionals.
If MFT Local 59 members reject the agreement and the district is without a ratified contract Jan. 15, the Minneapolis school district faces a fine of nearly $1 million from the Minnesota Department of Education.
Visit the MFT Local 59 website — www.mft59.org — to view the tentative agreement and an executive summary.
Steve Share edits the Labor Review, the official publication of the Minneapolis Central Labor Union Council. Visit the CLUC\'s website, www.minneapolisunions.org
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The tentative agreement between the Minneapolis School Board and the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers Local 59 was reached Monday after marathon negotiating sessions that ran late into the night over the previous weekend.
Local 59\’s negotiating committee and executive committee voted to send the agreement to members for a vote without a recommendation to vote yes or no. "The only recommendation was to move it to a vote," said Rob-Panning Miller, Local 59 president.
The negotiating process, he said, "was ugly."
At a meeting last night in south Minneapolis, teachers got their first look at the proposal. Passions ran high at the meeting.
"There are a lot of people who are unhappy," Panning-Miller said. "Yesterday\’s meeting was a very difficult one." Panning-Miller said about 300 Local 59 members — about one in 10 members — attended the meeting.
Most of the discussion, he reported, focused not on the tentative agreement\’s financial package but on proposed changes to eliminate current contract language favoring seniority with regard to transfers and the selection of staff for each school. The school district has long sought greater flexibility in making teacher assignments.
"Seniority with regard to layoffs is preserved," Panning-Miller noted, although the district initially sought to eliminate that protection.
Panning-Miller said the two-year agreement adds $20 million to the current package of salaries and benefits.
Highlights of the two-year agreement include:
• 2 percent salary increase in the first year
• 1 percent salary increase in the second year
• Lump sum payment of $750 in the second year.
The agreement maintains fully-paid single health insurance and increases the district\’s annual contribution to family health insurance by $250 in the first year and $500 in the second year. The district initially had proposed dropping a commitment to full single health coverage.
The agreement also protects retiree health insurance.
"We held the line with regard to language that would extend the day or extend the year without appropriate compensation," Panning-Miller added.
Contract language to give school principals more power to "interview and select" teachers would apply to most Minneapolis schools in the first year and to all Minneapolis schools in the second year. This clause of the agreement would expire with the end of the two-year contract.
The MFT Local 59 website lists a schedule of question and answer sessions planned Friday through Saturday. Voting will take place in-person at the MFT Local 59 offices Friday through Monday. Ballots will be counted Jan. 15 and the results announced the same day.
The agreement covers about 3,500 teachers and educational services professionals.
If MFT Local 59 members reject the agreement and the district is without a ratified contract Jan. 15, the Minneapolis school district faces a fine of nearly $1 million from the Minnesota Department of Education.
Visit the MFT Local 59 website — www.mft59.org — to view the tentative agreement and an executive summary.
Steve Share edits the Labor Review, the official publication of the Minneapolis Central Labor Union Council. Visit the CLUC\’s website, www.minneapolisunions.org