Minneapolis teachers reach tentative deal to end weeks-long strike
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[March 26, 2022]
By Joseph Ax
(Reuters) -Minneapolis teachers reached a
tentative deal on Friday to end a strike over pay, class sizes and other
issues that has kept some 30,000 students out of classes for more than
two weeks.
School officials said the agreement, which must still be ratified by the
teachers union's full membership, paves the way for students to return
to school on Monday.
The city's 4,500 teachers and support staff walked out on March 8 after
failing to reach a new contract with the district, the first teachers'
strike in Minneapolis in more than five decades.
"The collective action of our members has shown that strikes work,"
Shaun Laden, a chapter president at the Minneapolis Federation of
Teachers and Educational Support Professionals, said at a news
conference on Friday.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Mar/26/images/ads/current/farmers_grain_sda_SFARM_2022.png)
Laden said the tentative deal "significantly raised pay" for education
support professionals and secured job protections and seniority rights
for teachers of color.
A statement from the union said caps on class size and providing mental
health support for students also had been agreed upon.
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![](../images/032622pics/news_g15.jpg)
Striking teachers picket outside of a closed South High School
during the city’s first educators’ strike in fifty years in
Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., March 9, 2022. REUTERS/Tim Evans
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Mar/26/images/ads/current/heartland_lda_NOV2021.png) The union said a return to work
agreement had yet to be finalized but was in the works.
The district said it may add minutes to the school day or extend the
end of the school year to make up for instructional time lost to the
strike.
"I know for many of our students, the past two weeks have been
difficult and long," Kim Ellison, the school board chair, said at a
news conference earlier on Friday. "You've missed your teachers,
you've missed your school, you've missed your friends."
A teachers' strike in Sacramento, California, was set to enter a
third day on Friday, after talks failed to yield a contract last
week.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax and Katharine JacksonEditing by Chizu
Nomiyama and Jonathan Oatis)
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