Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

Bargaining teams for the CAT and the Board of Education meet at 6:15 p.m. tonight for the first time since December 9, 1997.

Since it has been so long between sessions, here is a brief review:

At the November 6, 1997 negotiations session, the Board chose NOT to negotiate--citing the recent Board election . Their team stated that it needed to meet with the new Board prior to making any further proposals.

At the December 9, 1997 negotiations session, the Board simply chose NOT to negotiate ! Their new team took a very hard-line position--that they did not wish to discuss the remainder of our proposals and would not alter their monetary offer. We reminded them of a resolution of the issues discussed at the November meeting--a resolution made even more appealing (to them) because of new legislation passed in December by the General Assembly--giving Cairo an additional $447,000 for the next three years! However, they indicated that they were not interested. We asked them to at least discuss it with the full Board at their December meeting. We have heard nothing from them.

Last week, they finally proposed another session--the one for tonight.

Have they finally decided to negotiate? Can we finally reach a tentative agreement on a successor agreement for both sides to vote on? Or is this just another session called to give the appearance of bargaining in good faith?

Your team will enter tonight's session with an open mind and a willingness to negotiate. That has always been our approach. Hopefully, their team will come to the table with a similar attitude. These negotiations could be concluded in one final session-- IF both sides are willing. It is looooooooong overdue!

CAT MEETING :

If we do reach a tentative agreement tonight , we will let you know when and where a ratification meeting/vote will be held.

If we do NOT reach a tentative agreement tonight , then it is time for us to have a meeting to bring you up-to-date--face-to-face--on where we are and what we need to do. Tentatively, that meeting would be on Tuesday, February 3, immediately after school in the Cairo High School cafeteria.

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