The pace of bargaining between Buffalo schools and the teachers union has picked up. Bargaining teams met Tuesday and are planning to meet again on Friday afternoon.
The talks are over a new contract to replace one which expired 12 years ago. Attitudes have also heated up, with the BTF staging a massive rally in Niagara Square a week ago to demand a new contract and hours later the school board staff putting on a slideshow to talk about the district's side of the talks. That didn't sit well with teachers.
"When the teachers saw the presentation that they made at the last board meeting, they were furious," said BTF President Phil Rumore.
"For the district to say that our teachers are compensated just about like the teachers in suburbs is an insult. Everybody knows that we're $15-20,000 behind. So, they are quite angry, right now."
Rumore didn't talk about discussions in the session yesterday, other than to say he didn't see any bargaining elements which absolutely blocked an agreement but says there will have to be some compromise. Teachers apparently want more of a raise than just the annual longevity raises and the school board says it wants givebacks, longer school day, longer school year and teacher payments of part of health insurance costs.
