New Haven teachers strike: Negotiations continue on Memorial Day

The school district and teachers union have not been able to reach an agreement on salary

The New Haven Unified School District administrators and teachers have not been able to reach an agreement to end a teachers’ strike that has stretched for a week and could continue after the Memorial Day holiday.

Negotiations between the district and the New Haven Teachers Association resumed at 9 a.m. today, the union said in a statement.

Administrators and teachers have been locked in a dispute over salary, with negotiations accomplishing little over the weekend. The union’s bargaining team has been pushing for a 10 percent raise over two years, but the district has offered less, a one-time 3 percent bonus for the current school year and a 1 percent raise for next school year, plus a 0.5 percent raise for every additional $1 million the district gets in state funding, up to an extra 1 percent total.

“Disappointment doesn’t begin to cover how New Haven teachers feel,” NTA president Joe Ku’e Angeles said in a statement Monday morning. “This stalling and disingenuous behavior hurts students.”

The district serves around 11,000 students at a dozen schools in Union City and South Hayward.

On Monday morning, teachers, students and parents carried signs outside the Alameda County Office of Education, where the talks are taking place, with phrases like, “On strike for educators to be valued,” and “Teachers are worth it.”

The union has argued that the district has plenty of money in reserves to fund the pay increase. But district administrators have said New Haven could be forced to cut positions or even a school if teachers, who are the highest paid in Alameda County, continue to demand more than the district has offered.