Coming Soon: DC Teachers' Contract Proposal

As promised, the DC teachers' contract proposal is coming soon. As most of you are aware, the Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) have been working together during the past several months in order to develop a teachers' contract proposal that supports student achievement, provides meaningful compensation for our union members and is based on sound research based educational practices.

Thursday evening was our first glimpse of the newly revised teacher contract proposal. Of course there is still some very minor tweaking to be done. From where I sit- the proposal looked good based on the power point presentation that I saw. I believe that generally the proposal will satisfy many of the concerns that I heard many of our teacher members raise.

Next Steps
The proposal is scheduled to be submitted to Chancellor Rhee by the end of January 2009. Both the WTU and AFT have agreed not to disclose specific details about this proposal until Chancellor Rhee's negotiating team gets an opportunity to review the plan and make a determination whether or not they will accept or reject this offer. As you may be unaware contract negotiations should remain confidential. Once a decision is made about the proposal, additional information will be forthcoming to the membership.

I do encourage all WTU union members to attend our upcoming Representative Assembly meeting scheduled next week on Monday - January 26, 2009 from 4:30-6:30 pm @

McKinley Technology High School
151 T Street NE, Room 150
Washington, DC 20002

Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) will speak at this very important meeting. Please encourage your school building representative or an alternate to attend this meeting and bring back important information to teachers. All union members are encouraged to attend. Please bring a copy of your union ID card to gain entry to this meeting. Look forward to seeing you all there. (Posted by The Washington Teacher).