The Juneau School District’s teachers union voted to authorize a strike earlier this week amid ongoing contract negotiations. According to a press release from Juneau Education Association, 92% of the union’s 265-person bargaining unit voted to authorize a strike.
Kelley Harvey is a reading interventionist at Auke Bay Elementary School and the union’s negotiation support co-chair. She said the vote lets the union strike, but doesn’t guarantee it will happen.
“The message of a strike authorization vote is just that. It authorizes us to take that next step,” she said. “It does not mean that we are definitely doing that, but that’s – 92% is a huge percentage of our bargaining unit that is in favor of that at this point because of how negotiations have gone.”
Negotiations have gone on for more than a year between the two parties.
Throughout the negotiations process, Harvey said members have remained in favor of competitive wages, increasing contributions to health insurance, protecting prep time and adding language addressing safety.
“Those are the non-negotiables,” she said. “We have to do better, because we’re losing teachers from the profession and from Juneau because they can’t afford to be here, and we also need to be protected when we are here.”
The district and JEA declared an impasse last year and are in arbitration now. A hearing is scheduled for April 27 and 28.
The authorization vote opens the door for the union to take the next steps to strike. Under state regulation and law, those next steps can be taken 90 days after an arbitrator is selected, or 30 days after the arbitrator’s report is issued, whichever comes first.
In this case, Harvey said the 90-day period ends on April 8, which comes before the scheduled arbitration hearing. She said a council of union members from all schools and programs would be the ones to make the decision to strike.
The union would then need to give 72 hours’ notice to the district before any strike occurs, but Harvey said the hope is to come to an agreement with the district without needing to strike.
In an emailed statement, district Chief of Staff Kristin Bartlett said the district is committed to the negotiation process.
“It is in the best interest of all parties to avoid any disruptions to students’ education and school operations,” Bartlett said.
The union is continuing to encourage the public to engage with the school board on negotiations through informational picketing, including one Thursday at Overstreet Park and the intersection of Egan Drive that leads to Nugget Mall.
Negotiations have resumed this past week and another closed negotiation meeting is scheduled for Friday.
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