Huntley teachers file strike notice

Huntley Unit District 158 teachers have filed a strike notice.

The 10-day intent to strike notice, filed late Monday night, doesn't mean a strike is planned. Should teachers decide to strike, the notice enables them to do so.

"We're committed to not having a strike," union spokeswoman Britt Crowe said. "This is a last resort."

If teachers vote to strike this year, it would be the first time District 158 teachers have gone on strike in recent memory. The district has no record of its teachers striking for at least 25 years.

"As far as we know, there has never been a strike in our school district and the 10-day intent to strike has never been filed," Crowe said.

Aug. 22 is the first day teachers could go on strike -- one day after teachers report back and three days before classes resume, according to the McHenry County Regional Office of Education.

District 158's teachers union has been meeting with district leaders since February to negotiate a new teacher contract.

The sides have been unable to reach a deal, even though the current contract expired June 30.

The union handed the strike notice to District 158 Superintendent John Burkey at 11:30 p.m. Monday -- after a bargaining session that, perhaps strangely, the union characterized as positive.

"Last night's negotiations were very good," unionco-president Julie Huntersaid. "We sat down as a group and discussed both sides' points and concerns."

Despite the strike notice, the union said it still hopes to reach an agreement by Aug. 25.

"We're hoping to have something by Friday night if at all possible," Hunter said. "We want to start school without interruption more than anybody."

The district disputed the union's characterization of Monday's meeting as positive.

"I don't know what they agreed to," said board member Larry Snow, the district's chief negotiator. "We put a lot of effort into trying to get them to agree to all the noneconomic stuff last night."

Snow said no tentative agreements have been signed on any items covered by the teacher contract.

The economic items -- especially salary, health insurance and retirement benefits -- are the major sticking points, according to both sides. The union also on Monday gave the district a demand to bargain on the district's fund balances.

Under state labor laws, the district is required to bargain only on issues that affect teachers' working conditions or terms of employment.

"Have you ever heard of that, any other district negotiating with a union on fund balances?" Snow said. "Maybe the union needs to understand the fund balances are not their money."

But the union said the policy, which aims to have a year-end operational fund balance equal to 25 percent of the district's expenditures, would take away money from teachers.

"The board is changing the policy so that it would limit the amount available to spend on teacher salaries and benefits," Crowe said. "It could affect the terms and conditions of employment."

The union has proposed a contract that would increase teachers' total compensation by at least $2.8 million, or 9 percent, this year. The district said the union's proposal would raise teacher compensation 30 percent over three years. The union has declined to respond to this claim.

Snow would not offer any details of the district's latest offer but said "the board is working under the financial constraints that it has and trying to adjust its proposal to the needs of the union."

The sides said they would have to reach a deal by Friday to sign a contract by the time all teachers return to work Aug. 21. They were scheduled to meet again Tuesday night.