Mediator calls for talks in Downingtown teachers strike

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/education/20080131_Mediator_calls_for_talks_in_strike.html

The official summoned both sides in the teacher walkout to a meeting tonight in Downingtown.

By Dan Hardy

Inquirer Staff Writer
Downingtown Area School District residents will likely find out tonight whether three days of a teacher strike generated enough movement to produce a settlement.

State mediator Jill Leeds-Rivera has summoned the school board and the teachers to restart negotiations at 7:30 tonight at the Chester County Intermediate Unit headquarters in Downingtown.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education told the two sides yesterday that even if no settlement is reached, the district's 850 teachers must return to work by Feb. 14 in order for students to get 180 days of instruction by June 15, as required by state law. The two sides would then go through nonbinding arbitration; if either rejects the findings, the teachers could go on strike again.

The teachers walked out Tuesday after hours of negotiations on Sunday failed to produce an agreement; the strike is the first in the district since 1980.

The main remaining issue is wages: The two sides are about $1.9 million apart over four years. The district has offered a 4.4 percent increase in the first year with increases of 4.5 percent, 4.5 percent and 4.6 percent in the next three; the teachers say they want 4.85 percent increases in the first three years of a five-year contract and 4.6 percent in the last two.

Starting salary in the district is $43,300, with the top wage at $81,815. The average is $58,915.

FULL story at link.