Oct 17, 2007 5:02 pm US/Eastern
Negotiators For SV Teachers, District Meet
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
Negotiators for Seneca Valley teachers and the district met for the first time since the strike began.
Both sides sat down with a state mediator at the state office building in downtown Pittsburgh this afternoon to help move along negotiations.
"My hope is just to listen and try to see where we are and possibly see where we can go," Superintendent Don Tylinsik said.
The strike has canceled classes for nearly 7,600 students. The major sticking point is salaries. The district is offering an average 4 percent per year annual increase for a 5-year deal, but the teachers want 6 percent.
"All the non-economic items have been settled in this matter," Tom King, from the school district labor council, said. "The school board signed off on them. We're hoping that the teachers will sign off and deliver those to us today."
One school board member who left the session early was not impressed.
"Hopefully there'll be something good that comes out of this but the feeling that I have leaving here is I kind of wasted two hours of my time," he said.
So far, negotiators for the teachers' union have not been available for comment.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
