Teachers' Union Boss Hits Sidewalk Outside Phila. School HQ To Hear Teacher Issues
By Mike DeNardo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The head of the Philadelphia schoolteachers' union is hearing the concerns of his members today and tomorrow from a table set up outside school district headquarters.
With the governor and the School Reform Commission calling on teachers to make concessions, union president Jerry Jordan was hearing directly from members about their working conditions.
"The information that they share with me will be things that I will share with the administration when we return to the negotiating table," he tells KYW Newsradio.
Diane Reznik, a computer teacher at Solis-Cohen Elementary School, says she has to clean her own classroom and teachers have to bring their own toilet paper and paper towels to work.
She'd like the union to fight against furlough days.
"If they cut my pay, how do I pay my bills? I like electricity and water and all those things. My kids like to eat on a regular basis. It's not easy," she said.
Teachers have been working without a new contract for a year. Jordan described progress in negotiations as "limited."
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