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Rank-and-file
teachers and support staff in the 5,000-member union, the
Seattle Education Association, "overwhelmingly
approved" the accord that consists of pay raises totaling 9.5
percent over the life of the contract, according to union
spokesman Rich Wood.
Teachers ratified the contract four days after they ended a
strike on Wednesday that cost 53,000 students six days of class
time in the largest public education system in the Pacific
Northwest.
The strike, which left many working parents scrambling to
improvise childcare arrangements, marked the first labor-related
disruption of classes in three decades for Seattle's public
schools.
Negotiators for the teachers union and the Seattle school
district had reached a tentative agreement on Tuesday. Union
leaders voted that same day to endorse the pact and immediately
end the walkout.
The union had originally sought pay raises totaling 18 precut
over three years. The 9.5 percent in the new contract is on top
of a state-approved 4.8 percent cost-of-living adjustment over
three years.
The teachers also won contract language ending the practice of
linking teacher evaluations to student test scores, as well as
compensation for instructional time being added to the school
day.
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien; Editing by Richard Borsuk)
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