Seattle teachers approve labor contract -- strike is officially over
Union members embrace after Seattle Education Association leaders voted to suspend a strike Tuesday. Seattle educators approved a new contract for Seattle public schools on Sunday.
Reporting from Seattle — Seattle teachers approved a labor contract between the union and its school district Sunday, officially ending a weeklong strike that had delayed the start of school for 53,000 students.
The walkout began Sept. 9 in Washington state’s largest school district and was suspended pending the outcome of Sunday’s vote by the 5,000-member union. The sides had reached a tentative agreement last week, allowing the first day of school to begin Thursday.
Members of the Seattle Education Assn., including teachers and support staff, ratified the three-year deal at a meeting in downtown Seattle.
The contract gives teachers a 9.5% pay raise over three years, not including state cost-of-living adjustments, guaranteed 30-minute recesses for elementary students and more teacher input over standardized tests.
Teachers have been working without a contract since the end of August. They had initially asked for a 21% raise spread over three years but came down dramatically from that request.
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Educators had complained that the high cost of living in a city with a booming population of well-paid technology workers was pricing them out.
MORE ON SEATTLE TEACHERS LABOR CONTRACT
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