MEMPHIS, Tenn.– A two-year contract stalemate between teachers and the Memphis-Shelby County School System could be on the road to a settlement.
For two years, teachers in Memphis-Shelby County Schools have been working without a contract. The teacher’s unions have been at the table conferencing, which is basically negotiating, but have still not settled on one main thing: salaries.
The United Education Association says it’s time to get back to the talks. The union presented the school board with a petition and sent out a press release saying as much.
But the oldest teacher’s union in Shelby County, the Memphis Shelby County Education Association, announced Thursday the stalemate is now over.
“We’re there we’ve settled those and we’re planning on signing the MOU tomorrow memorandum of understanding and it will be over and then we will have an actual memorandum of understanding which takes the place of a contract,” said Jesse Jeff with the Memphis Shelby County Education Association.
The union says the new interim school superintendent has promised to work out the salary issue that will allow teachers to once again have raises without having to wait years.
“Some teachers did not see any increase, maybe saw $30 or $20,” said Anntriniece Napper, President of the Memphis Shelby County Education Association.
UEA says it’s ready to make sure teachers’ voices are heard to bring to the table what is needed and best for everybody, even suggesting teachers’ salaries start at $100,000 a year. But the other union calls it pandering.
“In a perfect world, that would be great. But can you find somewhere in the United States where salaries start at $100,000? Again, that’s not realistic. We will love for our teachers to start at 100,000 but it’s even hard to get there after 19 years of service,” said Jeff.
Instead, the Memphis Shelby County Education Association says it’s moving forward and getting teachers the salary schedule they want so they finally know where they stand.
“I think it will bring morale then I think we will be able to retain teachers and the teachers that are veteran teachers, they will continue to work,” Napper said.
The Memphis Education Association told us the superintendent also agreed to give cost of living raises to teachers. We asked the school system for comments on the contract issue, but have not heard back.
