Paramount : Teachers Reach Agreement on Contract, Avoid Strike

Teachers in the Paramount Unified School District have averted a possible strike by reaching a tentative contract agreement, officials said Wednesday.

Terms of the agreement, which were hammered out in an all-day closed-door session Tuesday with a state mediator, were not disclosed.

The 425 teachers, who are members of the Teachers Assn. of Paramount, are expected to ratify the agreement early next week, said John Burritt, executive director of the association. “All issues have been resolved,” he said. Both sides compromised on some issues that had kept them apart.

District Supt. Richard Caldwell said the five-member school board was expected to vote on the agreement at its regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday . “It looks like a strike will be avoided. Both sides were able to agree on certain issues,” Caldwell said.

Last week, members of the teachers’ union authorized their executive board to call a strike if the union and district could not reach an agreement. No strike date was set, however. The strike authorization vote was approved by 87% of the members, Burritt said.

The teachers have been working without a contract since June, 1988.

Salary was one of a number of issues that separated the two sides. Teachers were asking for a 7% pay raise and a one-year contract, while the district was offering a 5% salary increase with a three-year contract.