Colleagues,
At their monthly meeting yesterday evening, the RTA Representative Assembly voted unanimously to declare impasse in our stalled negotiations for a successor contract with the Rochester City School District. We are filing for impasse today and asking the NYS Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) to appoint an impartial mediator to help resolve the issues.
After months of frustrating and fruitless meetings since our contract expired on June 30, the District remains unresponsive to virtually all RTA proposals aimed at adding needed services for our students, lowering class sizes, making our schools safer, increasing our capacity to attract and retain teachers, and improving teaching and learning conditions in our schools.
The District currently has the money (more than $1.1 Billion budget and a reserve of at least $312 Million 85% of which is unencumbered) to make schools safer, to make class sizes smaller, to provide our students the services that they need and deserve, and to make Rochester teachers’ salaries much more competitive. The District is not only rejecting virtually all our proposals but also continuing to misrepresent their budget, doing nothing about the lack of school safety, proposing to curb teachers’ rights and professional discretion, demanding concessions in our health benefits, and insisting on a longer school day and a longer school year – both uncompensated.
In an effort to avoid an impasse and expedite the stalled negotiations, we proposed to Superintendent Rosser that he become directly involved in negotiations at the bargaining table. He unfortunately declined. Dr. Rosser’s dismissive decision left us no choice but to file with PERB for impasse. And until we reach a successful conclusion to the current negotiations, there can be no “business as usual” between us and the District.
It is only through collective bargaining that we can have a real voice in policy-making and that we can bring the collective wisdom of teachers to the attention of the District. We remain confident that our solidarity in this challenge will result in making our schools better for teaching and learning.
Adam Urbanski, RTA President