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PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The possibility that Evergreen Public Schools students will begin classes next week is in doubt after leaders for the striking union rejected what the district called a final offer on Friday.
The strike by support staff, including paraeducators, bus drivers, and service workers, started on what would have been the first day of school on Tuesday, Aug. 26. The start of the school year was then pushed back to Tuesday, September 2 to allow both sides to continue negotiations.
There were negotiations, and district spokesperson Craig Birnbach said the two sides came close to a deal Thursday night. But, Birnbach said Friday, “union leaders offered a proposal today that took our sides much further apart.”
In response, the union leaders said the district’s offer and tactics were “disrespectful.” According to the union, a final offer was presented on Friday and the district called on union leaders to vote with only a few hours’ notice.
Union leaders said only the union decides when a ratification vote will be held, not the district.
The district bargaining team said they will be available to negotiate throughout the weekend. However, the union would only agree to continue bargaining if the district administrators would forgo any supplemental payments.
The union claimed that during the 2023 teacher strike, the district’s lead negotiator received nearly $14,000 in supplemental pay for weekend and holiday bargaining, while other administrators received thousands of dollars in similar payments during that bargaining session.
“With this being a holiday weekend and bargaining not normally happening on weekends, we said that we would absolutely be willing to as long as legally binding paperwork was signed, that they would not take supplemental contracts. We were told that they couldn’t guarantee that,” Paraeducator Derek Sytsma told KOIN 6 News.
Sytsma said the union filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the district on Friday claiming administrators threatened to withhold their paychecks for a couple months.
“You know, it’s a scare tactic,” he said. But if it happened, “I would have to, for the first time in my life, go to a food bank. I would probably have to apply for SNAP benefits. I would have to go to my landlord.”
Union chapter president Mindy Troffer-Cooper said she’s “feeling very frustrated. I mean, we didn’t expect to get it all our way, but we can’t let them have it all their way, either. And they don’t seem to want to meet us anywhere in the middle.”
“We are not asking for the moon and the stars,” Sytsma said. “We are asking for basic livable wages, for safety in the classrooms.”
As of now, both side are planning to go to the bargaining table on Tuesday — what was supposed to be the first day of an already-delayed start to the school year.
The union told KOIN 6 News they plan to continue the strike with teachers by their side.
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Ariel Salk
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