Overview
- Union members voted 91% in favor at a large membership meeting Wednesday, authorizing strike action but not ordering an immediate work stoppage.
- Bargaining between the Seattle Education Association and Seattle Public Schools has continued daily since late June and leaders say talks will carry on up to the start of the year in hopes of a last-minute deal.
- Negotiations have covered about 57 proposals across 23 sessions with the main disputes focused on wages to match rising costs, increased staffing, smaller class sizes and additional Special Education resources.
- The current union contract expires Aug. 31 and the district is scheduled to start classes Sept. 2, creating a short window in which a failure to reach agreement could delay openings or shorten the first week of school.
- The authorization affects roughly 6,000 school-based staff serving about 49,000 students and comes as the union also faces scrutiny over an ongoing district probe of its newly elected president, a separate development parents and district officials have raised concerns about.