A contract dispute between teachers and New York City officials appears to be close to a resolution. There is hope that a formal agreement will be reached between the parties by the end of the school year. Such an agreement could potentially extend the teacher contract until 2018.
It is hoped that such a settlement could also lead to another labor concern. Teachers and school workers are still seeking close to $8 billion in back pay. The city has argued it cannot afford paying retroactive raises of this size. But while there still remains disagreement concerning this matter, both sides appear to be in active negotiations.
An agreement would be considered an important breakthrough as pertains to public sector unions in New York City. Generally when one deal is reached, a number of other deals follow. There are currently 300,000 public workers in New York City without a contract. If an agreement is reached by April with the teachers and school workers, other unions would also likely have time to reach some sort of agreement prior to the end of the fiscal year.
Fair pay will always be a significant concern for all workers. When we are speaking of disputes over as much as $8 billion in pay, those representing the workers will play an extremely important role in the lives of many individuals. This may require attorneys who are extremely familiar with employment law.
As the above circumstances indicate, the negotiations of one particular sector of workers can have an impact on all workers. It’s for this reason that negotiations have to be conducted with care.
Source: Yahoo, “Agreement on the horizon in New York City union dispute,” Edward Krudy, March 27, 2014
