NEWS
United Teachers of Dade opened negotiations for the 2011-12 school year
United Teachers of Dade president Karen Aronowitz, accompanied by 30 members of United Teachers of Dade, opened negotiations for the 2011-12 year.
In her opening remarks the first priority, going into the opening of a new school year, Aronowitz said, “Before we begin talking about our contract, I am concerned that we have hundreds of employees, who have been declared surplus or transferred, who have no idea where they are going to be placed. People need time to plan and prepare for the school year and this is a terrible situation leading to a chaotic start to a school year.”
District officials responded stating, “There are less than 150 employees on the surplus list that have not been placed. Schools are also able to hire back some of the 3110s from last year. We anticipate that every class will be covered by the first day of school, however, a few permanent employees may still need be placed. They all still have jobs.”
Before the school year ended in June, United Teachers of Dade successfully negotiated lay-off protections through June 2012 for instructional employees and language that severely restricts the number of non-instructional employees that could be identified for reduction-in-force.
The district talked about dire economic situation and the rising cost of health insurance anticipating an increase of up to 8.5% costs and coupled with $185 million in cuts to education funding by the Florida Legislature.
Future bargaining sessions were set for September 14 and 27.