Oregon educators ratify contract that includes 10 days of unpaid work
Teachers in Portland, Ore. have agreed to work 10 days for free in an effort to keep 24 days from being lopped off the school year and to keep health benefits.
The 3,300-member union’s decision hinged on the government’s promise to temporarily raise taxes on businesses and possibly personal incomes to help close a budget gap that threatened to shorten the school year.
The 10 free days of work translates into a five per cent pay cut this year, but will preserve the 171-day school year if new tax revenues cover the other 14 days scheduled to be cut.
Salaries for teachers in Portland range from US$28,725 to US$60,371.
As part of the agreement, teachers will also receive a one per cent pay raise.
The union’s decision to work without pay stunned some labour experts. Rick Hurd, a professor of labour studies at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., told Reuters he had “never heard of such a thing.”
The 3,300-member union’s decision hinged on the government’s promise to temporarily raise taxes on businesses and possibly personal incomes to help close a budget gap that threatened to shorten the school year.
The 10 free days of work translates into a five per cent pay cut this year, but will preserve the 171-day school year if new tax revenues cover the other 14 days scheduled to be cut.
Salaries for teachers in Portland range from US$28,725 to US$60,371.
As part of the agreement, teachers will also receive a one per cent pay raise.
The union’s decision to work without pay stunned some labour experts. Rick Hurd, a professor of labour studies at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., told Reuters he had “never heard of such a thing.”
