Whereas,
The Philadelphia School District has many great needs other than a new teachers contract, such as more than 200 teachers to fill vacant classrooms, smaller classes, hundreds of teachers to replace teachers teaching without proper certification, lack of books, musical instruments, baseball and football fields, and in some cases gymnasiums and tracks; and
Whereas,
The 13,000 teachers and 8,000 non-teaching members of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, to their credit, are working without a contract; and
Whereas,
Negotiations between the PFT and the Mayor have stalled; and
Whereas,
It is necessary to restart meaningful negotiations; and
Whereas,
It is important for the City government which represents all the people of Philadelphia to negotiate in good faith and set an example of good faith collective bargaining; and
Whereas,
The PFT had already made important concessions on issues of merit pay and seniority rights. The talks had stalled on the simple issue of one hour versus one half hour of additional work time. There was no reason to stop talking; and
Whereas,
The City of Philadelphia has unilaterally imposed work standards and benefits, under a union busting law, Act 46, recently passed by the state government; and
Whereas,
The constitutionality of said law is being challenged by the PFT, and is clearly anti-labor and discriminatory; and
Whereas
,
The use of these anti-labor Act 46 powers by the City of Philadelphia against the PFT sets an undemocratic precedent for future union busting directed at all labor unions;
now therefore,
Resolved by the Council of the City of Philadelphia
that the Mayor of Philadelphia direct the School Board to repeal its imposition of a contract, return to the bargaining table to actively negotiate a new contract between the School District and the PFT, and until the commencement date of such new contract, adhere to the terms of the previously negotiated contract which expired August 31, 2000.
End