On November 9th, the PAT Substitute Teachers' Bargaining Team, comprised of Mark Oshin, Jeff Kipilman, and Stephanie Ritzert, met with the PPS team to start negotiations over a new contract for PAT Substitutes. After a productive session discussing goals and process, the two teams met again on November 22nd to exchange proposals.

The Substitute Teachers’ Agreement was set to expire on June 30th of 2016, but both PPS and PAT agreed to extend the current contract until December 31, 2016. This gives both sides enough time to try to reach a settlement before the current agreement expires.  

Although we’re just getting started, a few key issues have emerged, including how much sick leave is available to substitute teachers and how that sick leave will be accessed by our substitute members, as well as disciplinary action and what elements should be subject to just cause.

PPS is also pushing to remove the section of our contract that allows substitute teachers to refuse any assignment that would mean replacing a regular teacher who is on strike.

The Substitute Teachers' Bargaining Team will help District officials understand that respecting basic worker rights is not something that can be set aside simply because PPS couldn’t break our union during the 2014 bargaining crisis. Stay tuned for the next bargaining update.