Seattle teachers demand bigger wages, less working hours and paid overtime.
Based on official reports, Seattle Schools get a late start in awe of teachers’ strike. Protests started on Wednesday and continued on Thursday, as well, leaving 53,000 students behind their schedules.
Teachers in Seattle are not pleased with their working conditions and wages. They began protesting on Wednesday demanding authorities bigger wages, fewer working hours and accurate evaluations. This is the first school strike that educators are keeping in 30 years’ period. This proves educators feel wronged and would like authorities to pay more attention to their needs.
More than 100 schools in Washington have missed the official starting date as a result of teachers’ recent strike. School will remain closed for an undetermined period as educators will not back up until their demands will be completely fulfilled.
5,000 school members are taking part in the upheaval, according to recent reports. The Seattle Public School department has responded to educators’ demands letting them know that the institution is making all efforts to honor teachers and to give students what is best for them. However, the new measures that the department will take have to be in keeping with all fiscal obligations, the statement further wrote.
The recent ruling of Washington’s court has caused the educators’ strike, school members have explained. Teachers did not agree with the court’s decision of labelling all state charter schools illegal and decided to take their grief to the streets.
The court’s discontent with the current educational system does not stop here; they have recently fined the state $100,000 per day because they did not provide an efficient plan for the funding of education.
Teachers are also complaining of the small increases that the Seattle Public Schools is offering. Their contract included only $62 million increases for teachers’ wages, whereas educators demanded $ 172 million increases.
The union does not accept the district’s decision to prolong teachers’ working day by 30 minutes without being properly remunerated for their overtime. They claim it was time that teachers received a cost-of-living increase, considering that they did not have one in six years.
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