COLUMBUS, Ohio — Columbus City Schools has said "enough" when it comes to their bargaining with the Columbus Education Association. The district says they have decided to stop negotiations with the union and have presented their final offer.
These negotiations began back in March, with a few weeks left in the district’s contract with the Columbus Education Association, the union’s president said in a video on Facebook he would like negotiations to continue.
President John Coneglio said the union and district were able to negotiate eight different proposals. The union held a rally Wednesday during the bargaining.
He says they met Thursday expecting to negotiate more and were told the district was finished.
The district says its offer has above-state average salary increases for teachers, has new leave benefits and has more opportunities for teachers to grow professionally.
Union members will not know specifics about the offer until a meeting next week. After that meeting, a vote will take place, if the union votes against the offer, then a 10-day warning will be triggered for a strike.
10TV asked a spokesperson for the union if they were prepared to make that decision.
“Absolutely. I mean if it is not a collective idea that supports all of our teachers, like it can’t be a situation where ‘OK, some of our teachers have it good and the other half of our teachers are getting [nothing,]’ it can't be that case. You have to look out for everyone in the situation,” said Regina Fuentes.
The final offer from the district will be presented to the union on Aug. 4. The first day of classes is Aug. 24.