ROXANA – After several federally-mediated bargaining sessions between the Roxana Community Unit School District 1 Board of Education (BOE) and the Roxana Education Association (REA), REA is declaring impasse and initiating the public posting process. Once the public posting process is initiated by the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board (IELRB), the union could legally go on strike within 14 days.
District 1 schools are set to have their first day of class on Aug. 17.
The following statement is from REA President Kim Jones:
“We have spent more than seven months at the negotiating table, bargaining in good faith, trying to reach a fair agreement with the district. Still, the board does not seem to be willing to settle this and continues to make offers that are inequitable and do not value the years of service our experienced teachers have given to the district. They have given us no choice but to initiate the next step toward a strike. We will stop at nothing to make sure we get the best contract for our educators and for all of our students.
“Make no mistake, we would much rather be in our classrooms with our students than out on the picket line, which is why we remain hopeful we will be able to come to an agreement before students return to school on Aug. 17.”
Find more background here.
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The 135,000 member Illinois Education Association (IEA-NEA) is the state’s largest union. IEA represents PreK-12 teachers outside the city of Chicago and education support staff, higher education faculty, retired education employees and students preparing to become teachers, statewide.
