A strike simply was not something we wanted to do. I mean, the cost to our members, to the community, to kids was just — it would have had to really be a huge disparity between the district's offer and ours for us to consider it. The differences were not that great and in the end, with the help of the mediator, we split the difference. |
It was like having the public in the room with us. She advocated for us, and to the extent (the district) could convince her that they were right, she did the same for them. There are nice theories that bargaining is between the association and the district, but the reality is the district is a public entity, we are public employees, and there's no denying we're sensitive to that. |
The difference between any of the proposals we rejected and (this proposal) is the ones we rejected did not allow us to keep pace with the cost of living increases. This tentative agreement doesn't make up for lost ground over the last years, but it does allow us to not fall further behind. |