Teachers voted Tuesday to authorize a strike if contract talks with the Gateway school board continue to be stalled.þþ“The teachers have had it. And last night they showed that,” said Matt Edgell of the state teachers union.þþOf the 269 Gateway Education Association members, 238 voted to support the strike authorization. The union has been working without a contract since its pact expired in August. Negotiations began in January last year, but the union in a release said four of 18 scheduled talks have been canceled and the school board was “unprofessional and unprepared” at the sessions it did attend.þþ“There has been very little substantive talk. The board perhaps has put two financial proposals across the table,” Edgell said. “One was its initial position, and perhaps they countered once. And that actually might be giving them more credit than they deserve.”þþMary Beth Cirucci, school board vice president and negotiations committee chair, declined comment and referred all questions to Superintendent Bill Short. Short did not respond to phone calls requesting comment.þþState law requires the union to give notice 48 hours before going on strike.þþDillon Carr is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 412-871-2325, dcarr@tribweb.com or via Twitter @dillonswriting.
Source: triblive.com
