歪歪漫画

ROCHESTER 鈥� With the Rochester teachers across the district will begin leaving work as a group at the end of the 鈥渃ontracted workday鈥� every Wednesday until a contract settlement is reached, said Vince Wagner, president of the Rochester Education Association.

Wagner said the action is not a walkout. Teachers would be going home 鈥渙n time.鈥� Its purpose, he said, is to highlight the work teachers do 鈥渂eyond their contracted hours.鈥�

鈥淲e want to raise awareness that teachers regularly work well beyond their contract hours,鈥� Wagner said in an interview. 鈥淲e鈥檇 like to deliver the message to the school board that we鈥檙e very close to a settlement, that they鈥檝e received historic funding from the state this year.鈥�

Wagner said the 1,340-member Rochester teachers union would like to avoid mediation 鈥渂ecause we think we can work amicably with RPS.鈥� Union leaders are also concerned that mediation could put off a contract settlement for months and cause negotiations to stretch well into the summer. It hasn鈥檛 yet filed for mediation.

Mediators are busy these days because of the comparatively large number of Minnesota school districts that have yet to settle with teachers. Wagner said that the staff of Education Minnesota, the state鈥檚 teachers union, have told him that it might be six months until a mediator could be scheduled.

Mediators are third parties brought in to narrow differences between parties in a dispute. It is a non-binding process.

As of last week, 148 local unions have reported settlements, said Education Minnesota spokesperson Chris Williams. That鈥檚 about 45% of the total 328 school districts bargaining this cycle and the slowest pace of settlements in two decades.

At least 55 teachers unions have filed for mediation assistance with the state of Minnesota, he said.

The leaving-work-on-time action, which Rochester union leaders are calling 鈥淲e鈥檙e worth more Wednesdays,鈥� comes a week after administration rejected the teacher鈥檚 latest offer with Superintendent Kent Pekel saying its latest offer was as high as it could go.

The two sides are separated by about $1.8 million. The two sides view the difference very differently.

鈥淗onestly, it shouldn鈥檛 even come to this,鈥� Wagner said. 鈥淲e should be able to settle this.鈥�

In the last negotiation session, Pekel said the district faces a 鈥渟tructural, systemic鈥� gap between revenues and expenses and that to accede to the union鈥檚 request would be to make a bad fiscal situation worse and lead to bigger class sizes.

The district鈥檚 offer would increase costs by 15.44% above the current contract, while the union offer would put it 17.06% above it.

So far, of the unions that have released figures from settlements, the average salary increase for 2023-24 has been 4.5% and for 2024-25 3.4%.

End times vary from building to building: High schools end at 3:20 p.m., middle schools at 2:50 p.m. and elementary schools from 3:45 p.m to 3:55 p.m. Many of the teachers will be departing wearing red.

Wagner said teachers "routinely work beyond contracted hours," often sacrificing personal time to prepare lessons, work with students who are struggling and keep up with grading. Many spend time in the evenings, on weekends and during school breaks doing school work. Wagner said many teachers are exhausted and some are struggling to make ends meet.

鈥淚 am also concerned about the number of teachers who have indicated they are at or near their breaking point and may need to leave teaching,鈥� he said.