Monday, February 28, 2022 || By Michael Romain || @maywoodnews
Roughly two weeks postponing a strike scheduled for Feb. 18, the Proviso Teachers Union announced Monday that they now plan to strike on Friday, March 4.
“We were hopeful after receiving a new offer from the district on February 16 that Superintendent Henderson was finally ready to bargain seriously,” PTU President Maggie Riley said on Feb. 28.
Riley then criticized District 209 Supt. James Henderson, who last week claimed, without proof, that PTU leaders orchestrated a student walkout that happened earlier this month and that they deliberately planned the Feb. 18 strike in order to conflict with the Proviso East boys basketball team’s appearance in a sectional playoff game, among other claims.
“Despite his lies and lack of transparency throughout the last year of negotiations, we wanted to give this superintendent one more chance to do what is right for our students, community, and educators,” Riley said. “But once again, he refused to commit time to the bargaining process or to compromise on critical issues. At the same time, he lied about our union’s proposals to parents and the community, throwing teachers’ goodwill back in our faces. We will not offer it again.”
In a statement released Feb. 28, D209 school board President Rodney Alexander said the board is “disappointed that our educators are again contemplating this potential disruption to teaching and learning. However, this action was not unexpected as PTU has made several public statements about its plans to strike”
The next scheduled negotiations, which have been facilitated by a federal mediator, are for Monday, March 7 and Wednesday, March 9.
Alexander said, if the union strikes, the district “will notify all parents, students and staff of any school cancellations via robo-calls and emails as soon as possible on Thursday, March 3, as well as with a posting on the District website. If we receive such notice after 10:00 p.m., we will send emails only.”
The PTU, which is Local 571 of the Illinois Federation of Teachers, represents 280 teachers, social workers, librarians and school counselors in District 209. The union’s members have been working without a contract for nearly a year.
To read our previous reporting on the teacher contract negotiations, click here, here and here.
The post Proviso Teachers Union Schedules New Strike Date first appeared on Village Free Press.
Region: W Chicago,Schools,City: Maywood,Region: South Suburbs
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February 28, 2022 at 05:48PM
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