Whittier Teachers Ratify 2-Year Pact; Strike Is Averted
Teachers in the Whittier City School District, who earlier this month authorized union leaders to call a strike if salary negotiations fell apart, on Saturday voted to ratify a new two-year contract.
The new agreement--the culmination of more than a year of often-bitter negotiation--calls for a 5% salary increase for the current academic year, retroactive to last September, with the 1989-90 school year salary increase to be determined by increases in the district’s enrollment.
Teachers in the 5,800-student district had demanded 7%-a-year salary increase. After an arbitrator’s fact-finding report determined that the district could not afford the teachers’ demands, the 265-member Whittier Elementary Teachers’ Assn. authorized its leaders to call a strike.
Saturday’s vote, in which 87% of those voting supported the district’s latest offer, headed off a strike vote.
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