By Len Feldman
Grant Teachers Association members have voted overwhelmingly to authorize their executive board to call a strike if necessary.
Parents and community members are standing with the 670 GTA members in their fight to keep campuses safe and class sizes down in the Grant Union High School District near Sacramento. The district is exceeding the previously negotiated cap on the number of students it can place in classrooms.
Teachers in the 12,500-student district have been working without a contract since July 2004. "We want a settlement that will reduce class sizes and allow us to give more individual attention to our students," says GTA President John Ennis. "We want an agreement that will protect the safety of students, parents, and teachers on campus. We don't think that's too much to ask."
Teachers are also seeking a 2 percent salary increase plus the state cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). "We are having a hard time recruiting and retaining teachers because our salaries are not competitive," says Ennis.
Teachers want to see their health benefits maintained without any reduction in services or increase in costs to unit members.
The chapter and the district are in mediation. "We have made an unqualified written offer to the district and to a state mediator to meet anywhere, anytime to resolve these issues quickly," says Ennis.
Carrying picket signs and chanting loudly, parents and teachers rallied outside the Grant school board meeting March 2 and then marched inside to denounce the board's inaction.
"We are resolute," says Ennis. "We will stand together for our students and for ourselves."
