Minneapolis Public Schools Educators heading into day 12 of the strike
The Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Educator strike started on March 8. This impasse between the Minnesota Federation of Teachers (MFT) and the school district has yet to deliver a comprehensive contractual agreement. In other words, investing more dollars in the district so the parents, students, and teachers are equipped with resources to improve working conditions.
The demands are available in the video below.
To recap, here are the list of demands:
- Recruitment and retention of teachers of color
- Living wages for educational support persons
- Competitive salaries for teachers
- Mental health supports for students (a very important provision)
What exasperated the situation was the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, if you add the lockdown, school closures, and the killing of George Floyd, a lot has happened to all students from K-12.
What has been very stressful and tough for nurses, teachers, support professionals, counselors, and others is the lack of resources. Meaning, not enough staffing and having to take on bigger caseloads across the board.
Negotiations going back and forth between the Union and MPS district
Information is shared daily between the union and the district. What makes the strike unique and different is the presence of the mediator. The district requested the presence of a third-party mediator three months ago. The city of Minneapolis finds itself with a strike, and the last time this happened was 50 years ago.
Today, the district updated its website, and it is dedicated to the ongoing negotiations. For March 22nd, the district website said, “The MFT this afternoon returned a counter proposal that was $20 million more costly than their previous proposals, bringing the difference between MPS and MFT proposals now to $167 million.”
On the other hand, the Teacher Chapter of MFT Greta Callahan asserted that everything should move to settlement and bring the kids back to school.
“We put it all on the table. We put something on the table that we know and believe MPS could accept to get our kids back in school, and they walked out on our children,” said Callahan.
On March 23rd, a rally will take place at the Davis Center to continue pressuring the district to settle the contract.
Rallies organized across the Twin Cities
For almost three weeks, educators have been on strike. Rallies have been organized in downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul. The second week of the strike included a rally in front of the Governor's Mansion.
To date, Governor Tim Walz is up for re-election this year. With this historic strike, he has shared on multiple occasions the need to invest in education. Moreover, the state has a record 9.25 billion surplus. Why has Governor Walz stayed silent on the matter?
Another elected official who won re-election is Mayor Jacob Frey from Minneapolis. There are no reports at this time available to confirm if he is aware of the strike.
The clock is ticking for the striking educators
If the strike continues beyond this week, educators will lose their salaries. Also, if a settlement is not reached by April 1st, they will lose their health insurance.
The question remains of how this matter comes to an end. With extra dollars in the state budget, there are nine billion reasons to invest in MPS and the rest of the state to add resources to a profession that is in crisis.
Will it be business as usual for elected officials in Minnesota? Will they ignore it completely and continue to attend to other matters? Because the number of teachers leaving the profession has accelerated over the past two years.
