SALEM, Ore. — Teachers in the Salem-Keizer School district are voting whether or not to strike this week. The vote comes as the teachers union and Salem-Keizer have been negotiating for months over a new contract.
"We don't want to strike, but we will if we have to," said Tyler Scialo-Lakeberg, the president of the Salem-Keizer teachers union.
Teachers' votes will be totaled on Friday, when it will be determined if teachers voted in favor of a strike. Already, the union is stocking picket signs in its offices.
"I never thought that we'd be in this place, and for this to last so long," Scialo-Lakeberg said.
While teachers vote, the union and school district continue to negotiate. On Wednesday, the two sides will meet, in what is expected to be another marathon bargaining session, union leaders said.
There’s currently just three key items separating the sides, Scialo-Lakeberg said. The biggest sticking point that remains is teacher workloads.
Union leadership said the school districts proposal could decrease some full-time educator roles to part-time.
"Our district, with the FTE (full-time equivalency) language that they have proposed, and the way they have implemented it in the past, could have people working and being paid an hour or two less a day, but still teaching the same amount of classes," Scialo-Lakeberg said.
KGW reached out to the school district for an interview on the strike vote Tuesday. Salem-Keizer denied our interview request.
Though previously, Superintendent Andrea Castañeda has disagreed with union leadership assertions, and said the school district does not want to make teachers part-time employees.
Castañeda has also mentioned that due to budget restraints, the school district cannot meet union demands. Salem-Keizer is currently facing a $30 million budget shortage.
"I think it's very sad," Gloria Holland, a grandmother of Salem-Keizer students said of the contract negotiations.
Holland is a former Salem-Keizer teacher, and has a daughter who currently works in the district as an educator. In her opinion, class sizes are far too large district-wide, and teachers are underpaid.
"I'm just really sad that it's come to this,” Holland said, “that the teachers have to fight for their livelihood."
Holland said the state needs to step in and provide more funding for schools. Though in the short-term, Salem-Keizer needs to more adequately support its educators. While she is hopeful a strike won’t be necessary, Holland said she is in favor of it, if teachers are able to receive what they are asking for.
"It's not going to be good,” Holland said. “But if this is the only way that the teachers can get what they deserve in this contract, then I'm all for it."
If a strike does happen, Scialo-Lakeberg said it could take effect in the first two weeks of April.