FLINT, Mich. - The Flint Community Schools Board of
Education has voted to implement a contract for teachers as of July 1, saying
that negotiations with United Teachers of Flint have reached impasse, The Flint
Journal reported.
At least one teacher criticized the timing of Wednesday's vote,
according to The Journal, which reported that the board added the resolution to
its agenda near the end of a lengthy evening meeting.
"I'm just furious," James Cole, Southwestern High
School teacher, told The Journal, "doing it in the middle of the night
when no one's here."
The board will implement the terms of its "last, best offer"
to the teachers union following two years of negotiations, The Journal
reported. The details of that offer were not specified in the article.
"You have to have a way to move forward," Superintendent
Linda Thompson said, according to The Journal.
SOURCE:
The Flint Journal, "Flint
Community Schools to impose 'last, best offer' on teachers after contract
negotiations stall," June 2, 2010
FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "A Collective Bargaining Primer: Impasse,"
Feb. 28, 2007