St. Paul Teachers Strike Over; Tentative Agreement Reached

ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) -- The St. Paul teachers strike is over.

The union announced early Friday morning that a tentative agreement was reached with St. Paul Public Schools. Teachers plan to go back to work at 1 p.m., although Friday classes remain canceled for the district's 36,000 students.

The strike began Tuesday, with teachers walking off the job over a contract dispute. At issue was resources for more social workers, psychologists and multilingual staff to better serve the diverse student body.

According to the union, the tentative agreement will include resources for more workers, nurses, intervention specialists, psychologists and multilingual staff. There'll also be wage increases, more manageable workloads to better serve student with special needs and building-based substitutes for schools that have a difficult time finding stand-in educators.

Concerns over the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) also played a role in ending the strike, according to Nick Faber, the president of the Saint Paul Federation of Educators.

"Only an unprecedented pandemic and concern over the health and safety of our students and staff stopped St. Paul educators from fighting harder and longer for more resources for our children," Faber said, in a statement. "Still, this strike demonstrated the power educators have when they use their collective voice."

St. Paul Public Schools says classes will resume for students on Monday, adding that meal site locations will open Friday.

"We are glad to reach an agreement with our educators," Joe Gothard, the superintendent of St. Paul Public Schools said, in a statement. "Through hours of compromise and a laser focus on placing students above all else, we have a new two-year agreement that targets resources to areas of greatest need."

The tentative agreement will now be up for a vote for the union's 3,600 members. The vote date has yet to be scheduled.

In a statement, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter thanked the union and district leaders for working to reach an agreement.

"This fight is the right one," the mayor said. "We all know we and must do better for our children. While the gains won this week will make our district stronger, significant work remains to win the state and federal funding necessary to provide the level of support our children deserve."