MINNEAPOLIS — Some 4,500 teachers and professional support staff, represented by Minneapolis Federation of Teachers Local 59, went on strike March 8. The school district has hard-balled the workers’ needs in negotiations so the union authorized the strike by 97%. Major issues are a living wage for education support professionals, hiring more staff to better represent the multinational student body, more mental health support staff, smaller class sizes and pay for teachers that is competitive with other area districts.
The union represents some 3,265 teachers and 1,500 educational support workers, with over 30,000 students in the district. The support staff deals with transportation, language translation, one-on-one assistance in the classroom and is involved in before and after school programs.
The union wants the starting wage for the educational support staff to start at $35,000 a year, instead of the $24,000 being paid today. The union is fighting for a 12% wage increase for teachers in the first year of a new contract, and 5% more the next.
School Superintendent Ed Graff told the press they agree that union members should be paid more, but “unfortunately, the reality is that we’re resource-limited.”
In addition to picketing at schools every morning, the union has organized three rallies, each drawing over 1,000 strikers and their supporters. “People do not realize the importance of the support professionals and the role they play, not only in the classroom but in the school in general,” Elizabeth Therkildsen, a teacher for over 20 years and now a district program facilitator, told the Militant at a rally in north Minneapolis March 8. “They need a living wage.”
At a state Capitol rally the following day, union leaders answered the school administration’s claims that they can’t afford to pay more. “We don’t have a budget crisis in Minneapolis, we have a values and priorities crisis,” said Shaun Laden, the president of the union’s support professionals. “I don’t think they understand how determined our members are.”
“We have 5,000 people on the streets. We are in a righteous fight,” said Greta Callahan, president of the union’s teachers’ chapter. “Our members are not going to back down.”
Ken Nelson, a teacher of computer sciences at North High School, explained what he told his students. “The teachers strike is at the heart a question of the foundation of society — education and culture,” he said. “We know the school board claims it doesn’t have the money to meet our demands, but we also know the state has.”
The state government has a $9.25 billion budget surplus.
“The teaching assistants need a living wage and we need more mental health support such as psychologists,” Jill Le, who has been teaching as a speech therapist at Sheridan elementary for eight years, told the Militant. “Class size is also an issue. I have 35 students in my classes.”
Her co-worker, Amy Swanson, a special education teacher for 17 years, agreed. “I want to make it clear what our demands add up to, we are standing up for the students,” she said.
Teachers in neighboring St. Paul, members of the St. Paul Federation of Educators, had also authorized a strike vote, but their union reached a tentative agreement March 7, averting a strike.