St. Paul teachers plan to strike March 11, unless they reach an agreement with the district before then, the union announced Monday morning.
The union filed its official intent-to-strike notice at the Bureau of Mediation Services on Monday afternoon. At a news conference, Leah VanDassor, president of the St. Paul Federation of Educators, described the move as a “necessary step” to retain educators through affordable health insurance and “strong wages.”
“We haven’t seen enough movement from the district at the table,” she said. “We also know that if we don’t continue to put the pressure on, then we aren’t going to see movement from the district fast enough to get things moving for our students.”
She added that the union’s bargaining team was doing “everything in its power” to reach an agreement before March 11.
Pat Pratt-Cook, the executive chief of human resources for St. Paul Public Schools and the district’s lead negotiator, said she was “disappointed” in the union’s plans to file an intent to strike after months of negotiation and five days of mediation.
“We want to assure the community that the Saint Paul Public Schools bargaining team is working tirelessly to continue contract talks and reach an agreement that values our educators while ensuring the financial stability of our district over the long term,” she said in a news release on Monday.
The district said that while it hoped to avert a strike, it was exploring options to minimize a strike’s impacts on families, and would provide more information on child care, meals, and transportation at a later date if necessary.
The intent-to-strike notice follows a February 15 strike authorization vote. The union said two-thirds of its members participated in the vote; of that number, 92% voted to authorize a strike.
In a Facebook comment over the weekend, the union noted progress in Friday’s mediation session on proposals on green building upgrades, subsidized transit for staff, and updates to the district’s gender equity policies. VanDassor said Monday that the union had offered a new proposal for its top priorities of wages and benefits, though she declined to provide specifics. She also said that she had expected to see a new proposal on these issues from the district, but the district did not provide one Friday.
In 2020 and 2022, she said, the district had not “started getting serious” in negotiations until five days before the scheduled strike date.
“I hope that’s not what happens this time,” she said. “The ball is really in the district’s court.”
Another mediation session is scheduled for March 1.
In a statement posted online Saturday, the district called Friday’s mediation session “productive.” The district said the two sides had reached tentative agreements on several issues and dropped several other proposals.
“The union presented a new financial package that demonstrates a willingness to negotiate and reach an agreement,” the district said in its February 24 update. However, the district said, the union’s proposal was still far over its budget.
Despite a historic increase to state education spending in 2023, the district has said it is facing a budget shortfall of more than $100 million, largely due to the expiration of federal COVID funds this September.
The union and school district have been in mediation since January 24, and a strike could still be averted if they reach an agreement before March 11. St. Paul teachers staged a three-day strike in March 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered schools for the remainder of the school year. They also announced plans to strike in 2022, but reached an agreement with the district just before the strike was scheduled to begin. That year, educators in Minneapolis went on strike for three weeks.
The St. Paul Federation of Educators represents 3,700 teachers, educational assistants, community service professionals and other licensed school staff like nurses and psychologists. Other local unions have also authorized strikes for early March, including 8,000 janitors, security guards, and retail cleaners; 1,000 workers at 12 nursing homes; and 400 Minneapolis Public Works employees.
While in recent years, negotiations between St. Paul educators and the district have often focused on issues like class sizes and student mental health needs, this year the biggest sticking points are higher wages and better health care contributions, union officials said.
“We’re seeing inflation go so high that in January, many of our educators actually saw their paychecks go down because our health insurance costs went up,” said Erica Schatzlein, an English language teacher at Nokomis Montessori Magnet School and the union’s lead negotiator.
Shanaz Padamsee, an interventionist at the St. Paul district’s online school, told Sahan Journal that since 2018, her family health insurance contribution has increased by $278 per bimonthly pay period. That means that despite annual cost-of-living raises, she has seen a net decrease in take-home pay—even as inflation has risen.
Schatzlein told Sahan Journal that the union’s other major concerns include staff training in restorative practices and more mental health staff, particularly licensed alcohol and drug counselors. The union has also said it wants the district to invest in full-service community schools and reduced caseloads for special education teachers.
