A state judge ordered public-school teachers in Princeton, N.J., yesterday to end an illegal strike and return to work today for the first day of classes. But union leaders said they would defy the order, and district officials prepared to use substitute teachers and curtail schedules if necessary.þþThe teachers voted on Tuesday to authorize a strike after a state-mediated bargaining session broke down. Yesterday, at their union's direction, none of the 300 teachers and guidance counselors represented by the union showed up to prepare for the scheduled opening of schools today.þþLate in the day, the school board obtained an injunction from Judge Neil H. Shuster of Mercer County Superior Court ordering the teachers back to work. Strikes by public employees are illegal in New Jersey, and a judge last year jailed 200 striking teachers in Middletown, N.J.þþBut yesterday's order was greeted dismissively by union leaders here. ÿWe're not going back until we have a good contract,ÿ said Suzanne Thompson, co-president of the union, the Princeton Regional Education Association. Even the school board president, Charlotte Bialek, said the injunction was not likely to sway the teachers.þþBoth sides in the strike resumed negotiations last night under the direction of a state mediator who early yesterday summoned them back to the bargaining table.þþThe district's four-year contract with the union expired on June 30. The strike — the district's first in memory, Ms. Bialek said — took many by surprise, since some previous contracts had lapsed for as long as 19 months before strike threats were even heard.þþIn a letter to parents, district officials vowed yesterday to keep schools open ÿif there is sufficient staff to do soÿ and began hiring substitutes. They said that if the strike continued, they would open schools today for half a day, and then run a full-day schedule thereafter.þþÿHowever, under certain circumstances, we may find it necessary to close school entirely or to close school early,ÿ Superintendent Claire Kohn warned in the letter. ÿAgain, we advise parents and guardians to have a contingency plan in place in the event this should happen.ÿþþMs. Bialek said the district had recruited 140 substitutes. With them, and the 30 members of the administrative staff, the district could keep schools open without ÿbeing just a baby-sitting service,ÿ she said.þþBut she said the union representing the school system's support staff belonged to the same umbrella group as the teachers, the New Jersey Education Association, and there was pressure on them to stay away from work as well.þþOne issue in the negotiations is salaries, and Ms. Bialek said both sides were close on this point. The median pay is currently $49,000 a year. þþStill hampering negotiators are givebacks in health benefits and the question of how teachers will spend a 20-minute period of their day.þþKaren Joseph, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Education Association, said the period of time was originally added to the teachers' day in the last contract, and through collective bargaining, the union won the concession that it be used only for instruction and not duties like playground and lunchroom monitoring. It is wrong to use ÿhighly trainedÿ people for those tasks when there are aides and others to do them, she said.þþBut Ms. Bialek said that the board had since been told by the New Jersey School Boards Association that it was illegal to negotiate away a principal's or administrator's prerogatives in assigning teachers.þþþ
Source: NY Times
