KENT STRIKE: Big rally Friday; no contract yet
September 5, 2009 · 12:33 PM
Negotiations were to continue at noon today between the Kent School District and the Kent Education Association, the teachers' union, over the teachers' labor contract.
Teachers have been directed as a result of legal action taken by the district to be in their classrooms by Tuesday, with school to start Wednesday for students.
On Friday, 1,400 union members, parents and students were out in force near Kent School District headquarters, chanting and picketing, as vehicles honked in a show of support.
See video of the rally on the KEA blog site.
The union has scheduled a meeting of its membership for Monday night.
A statement in the union's blog outlined the reason why KEA didn't immediately put the injunction order past its membership for a vote.
"Many members attending (Thursday's court action) had expected to vote immediately to either ignore the judge’s injunction order and continue their strike, or to end the strike and return to work in the hopes bargaining would continue. However, KEA’s Bargaining Team recommended a third way: delay any action until Monday to allow bargaining to take place, and see if an agreement might still be reached."
Please stay tuned. The Kent Reporter will give updates to this story as soon as the information becomes available.
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