After negotiating well into the night, teachers in Rutland City called off their strike — just hours before it was set to begin.
The Vermont-NEA announced that a deal had been reached in a short statement released just after midnight. Details of the agreement, which still needs to be ratified by members of the Rutland Education Association and the Rutland City school board, were not available.
Both sides have substantially ratcheted up pressure in the last week. After negotiating for over a year and half, teachers last week voted overwhelmingly to strike if the two sides couldn’t agree on a deal by May 14. The next day, the board imposed a two-year contract, which the union argued was prohibited by law.
The deal meant that school could go on as normal Wednesday for the district’s roughly 1,800 students. The district had previously announced that it would attempt to keep schools open in the event of a multi-day strike, but that schools would close on the first day should teachers take to the picket line.
Contract talks began in December 2023, with key disagreements over salaries and sick time. Educators in Rutland City have noted that they are among the worst paid in the region and sought significant increases in pay. District officials, meanwhile, have highlighted the city’s pension plan, a unique benefit in the state, and argued they could not spend more than what voters greenlit in March.
The current contract expired July 1. Teachers and the district have already exhausted attempts at mediation, and the two parties went to fact-finding in March.
That fact-finder issued his report in early April, and the union has said it was willing to accept its recommendations. But the school board offered a counter-proposal instead and argued the findings of the report were flawed.
The board has also claimed that adopting the fact-finder’s recommendations and living within their voter-approved budget would require cutting 18 positions. It subsequently sent educators reduction-in-force notices, which the union called an unlawful threat in an unfair labor practice complaint filed with the Vermont Labor Relations Board. The district, for its part, has continued to argue that they had no choice but to issue RIF notices under the terms of their contract.
