Teachers’ union still reluctant on salary givebacks

This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.

by Holly Otterbein for NewsWorks

The Philadelphia School District has been desperately seeking help from the city, state and labor unions in order to plug a $304 million budget gap.

The city government is pledging extra money, though part of that still requires state permission. Pennsylvania officials are also in talks about finding more cash. So what about the other part of the three-legged stool?

It seems even less certain now than the other two wobbly legs.

To avert a so-called "doomsday budget" next school year, Superintendent William Hite is calling for labor concessions, mostly from the teachers’ union, whose contract expires on Aug. 31.

That means tiered salary cuts and extra contributions for health insurance. Currently, the vast majority of teachers do not contribute any percentage of their salaries for health insurance, though they do kick in co-payments.

Philadelphia Federation of Teachers president Jerry Jordan has been persistent: He is not doing pay cuts.

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