Over six bargaining sessions and countless salary proposals later, the United Teachers of Dade (UTD) are still hanging on as their battle with the Miami Dade County Public School (MDCPS) board continues to heat up.

UTD is the organization that represents those working in the educational system. From teachers and substitutes to janitors and securities, UTD has, for the last 30 years, been the main bargaining team that negotiates for the rights, benefits, and salaries of every employee, whether they are members or not, working in the Miami-Dade Public School system.

Every three years, the teacher labor contract comes up for renegotiation. The labor contract is an agreement between UTD and the school board on the rules and guidelines that employees and board members must abide by. From how long a lunch break will be to what kind of insurance will be offered, the contract is a long and considerably detailed settlement that lays down the ground rules for education in Miami-Dade County.

Since the beginning of February, both organizations have been meeting together to negotiate salaries for teachers. UTD has been struggling with the school system for higher salaries for educators; however the school board refuses to agree with the payment increase.

“We don’t just want a raise, we want step progression,” said Mr. Pablo Gomez, Varela’s UTD steward who keeps staff members informed on union news.



With the rising costs of homeowner’s insurance, property tax, utility bills, groceries, and gasoline to and from work, numerous teachers in the county feel that it is becoming increasingly difficult to live on a teacher’s salary.

As a wife and mother, Ms. Shelia Dymond, English teacher and department chair, felt that it was very hard to teach extra classes to compensate for the wages that are being given to teachers.

“It’s pathetic that we have to fight for something as basic as salary increases; it makes you feel like you're not valuable,” said Dymond. “We're short two English teachers in our department. Why are people going to go through all of those years of college to end up getting a lowly teacher’s salary?”

Although being the largest county in the state, Miami-Dade's average salary wages are among the lowest in Florida compared to its neighboring counties such as Monroe and Broward.



“I feel our school board has failed teachers in Miami and not kept up with the price of living,” said ESE teacher and Varela’s Teacher of the Year Mr. Daniel Reyes. “Being the biggest school district in the state of Florida, which has the biggest budget, we should have the biggest payroll.”

According to utd.org, Broward County teachers will be receiving a minimum raise of over $2,000 a year.

In addition to that, Duval County reached an agreement to increase teacher's income over the next two years. New teachers would start at $37,000 and end at $70,000. Teachers in Hillsborough County (Tampa) just received a pay raise of ten percent.

UTD President and Chief Negotiator Karen Aronowitz used this information as further evidence of how out-of-touch and unfair their salaries were.

“Our district is falling further and further behind in our own state,” she said. “It is time for the school board to step up to accept and fund UTD's salary proposal.”



In their defense, the bargaining team for Miami-Dade Public Schools claimed that there was no additional money for salaries in the budget being presented to the school board. Chief negotiator for MDCPS, Ofelia San Pedro claimed, that after pouring over every line of the budget to see where they could get more money, that funding this year was not enough to offer a comparable package as the one being offered in Broward.

“They have the funds; they just are used to the fact of us having none,” said Gomez.

The MDCPS bargaining team proceeded to present other contract proposals, introducing step compression and additional work requirements for teachers such as having each teacher meet with the parents of every student each semester and giving the district the right to implement a new evaluation system.

Superintendent Rudy Crew offered what the UTD called ‘unacceptable proposals’ in addition to the previous ones that include a starting salary of $35,700, forcing teachers to work free of charge until 7:00 p.m. once per semester and mandating schedule changes and reform efforts, among other things.

Yet in a recent update, Dr. Crew and the school board have finally announced that they were able to find an additional $20 million for salaries, bringing the total to $65 million.

Unfortunately, the amount offered is still not enough for UTD.

“Get ready to hit the streets on October 11th,” announced Aronowitz in an email to Dade County UTD stewards and forwarded to teachers. “Our community needs to know that their teachers and education support professionals do not yet have the contract we deserve.”

“Even though I’m not a union member anymore, I personally would go to jail, striking [for teacher’s rights],” said Chemistry and law studies teacher Mr. Greg Nguyen who took part in the protest held three years ago in the previous conflict for salary increases. “I think teachers don’t get any respect and I don’t get that Florida has education as a high priority, yet the legislature will do nothing to support it.”

“We take care of your kids,” said Gomez. “Now you take care of us.”