Unions Win Furlough Fight

CAT Tracks Editor's Note:

The Cairo Board of Education ought to take notice of this ruling and take a loooooooooong look in the mirror...

...especially in light of their giving everybody but the teachers (who dared to stand up to them) pay raises of 2% for the past couple of years and, now, raises of 2.5%, 3.0%, and 3.5% for the next three years. Hell, they even decided to go back and increase a pay raise for the CJSHS principal from 2% to 2.5% (which I don't have any argument with. Lord knows the District can afford it!)

The Cairo Association of Teachers tried bargaining in good faith with the BOE...

...but the BOE (with HWSRN sitting at the table stonewalling and "going off" on the IEA negotiator because he couldn't hear his mumbling) was not interested.

Instead, the BOE insisted that the Association give up huge chunks of long established language (employee rights gained through pay sacrifices and strikes), but would not even guarantee the traditional step in return. In short, major "give backs" (as mentioned in the SIU article) without any monetary compensation.

As several former administrators confided when they heard of the BOE's demands...

...in our experience, you expect to pay for 'give backs'.

Not the Cairo Board of Education.

CAT even offered to "dust off" the current negotiations process, offering to sign an extension that would have maintained the status quo (with rewrites to comply with recent legislation.) The BOE's response? Crickets!

For the Cairo Board of Education, it's their way or no way!

Hope the Administrative Law Judge has some room on her schedule...

...CSD #1 is always looming.

The "good news"...

...from our standpoint anyway, is that they loose every damn time!

It's just how long the battle, how much money the District's lawyers want to make.