A 10-day strike notice is required of Ohio public school teacher unions, should they collective decide to pursue a strike during contract negotiations.
Friday’s announcement by REA official is not an alert to the district or public that Ross school teachers will strike, but only to publicly inform the Ross Schools community that such an option is available to its team as they try to negotiate a new labor contract, said Amy Brossart, spokeswoman for the REA.
“This is in no way authorizing a strike,” Brossart told the Journal-News late Friday afternoon.
“We are hoping for the best but want to be prepared for the worst.”
Ross Schools Superintendent William Rice said early Friday evening “we have not received anything official from the REA that indicates a 10-day strike vote has taken place.”
“We look forward to continuing the (contract) bargaining process this Monday,” said Rice.
The release of such information publicly and its timing, said Brossart, is in part designed to encourage the general public of school families and others in Ross Twp. school system to back the teachers union and if they chose to, communicate that backing to members of the Ross Board of Education and Ross school district officials.
Brossart said, however, “does signal that the educators have been working without a contract for nearly 100 days at this point and this is, of course, disrespectful to our professional and dedicated educators.”
Neither side in the contract talks are speaking publicly about specific areas of contention, but Brossart – who is not a member of the union’s negotiating team – said some issues concern the lack of salary increases for long-time teachers.
The announcement also included a notification the union is establishing a “strike headquarters” Monday at an office at 3825 Krause Lane in the adjacent community of Fairfield, which has some neighborhoods included within Ross Schools’ district boundaries.
The union will hold a press conference there at 4:30 p.m. Monday and Brossart said the public is invited at that time to tour the newly opened office and get more information on the on-going contract talks.
“Finally, the opening of the strike headquarters is a serious action that should signal that Ross educators are serious about obtaining a fair contract that allows the district to attract and retain career-minded educators to Ross Local Schools. We certainly hope the board of education shares that same goal and settles a fair contract at once,” said Brossart.
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