Teachers overwhelmingly back strike in first vote since ’79
San Francisco Chronicle – CA, USA
San Francisco public school teachers overwhelmingly approved a walkout Wednesday night in the first strike vote taken by the group in 27 years.
The United Educators of San Francisco — which represents 6,000 teachers and aides working in the San Francisco Unified School District — voted 2,203 to 317 to strike.
The union has been working without a contract since July 2004. The teachers and aides last had a pay raise in the 2002-03 academic year.
The union declared it was at an impasse with the district last month. A state labor mediator was brought in, without success, and the union set the strike vote.
SF Teachers’ Union Votes To Approve Strike
abc7news.com – San Francisco,CA,USA
Teachers and staff with the United Educators of San Francisco voted tonight to authorize a strike if the district does not meet their demands.
Union President Dennis Kelly emerged from an evening meeting at which the strike authorization vote was held. “We had literally thousands of teachers turn out to vote on the authorization,” he said. The members voted “overwhelmingly” in favor of authorizing a strike.
According to the union’s vote results, 2,520 union members voted tonight on whether to authorize a strike. The authorization passed by a margin of 87.4 percent.
“We will go into the next round (of mediated negotiations) with this (vote) behind us to let the district know we are serious about fair pay and equal protection. We are ready to shut down the schools,” Kelly said.
District spokeswoman Lorna Ho said the district’s reaction was “one of incredible disappointment.”
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