The Denver teachers union rejected the school districtap latest attempt Thursday to avert a teacher strike: a new offer that would boost the districtap proposal to increase what it spends on teacher pay by an extra $3 million, and fund two additional years of cost-of-living raises.
In all, the districtap offer would invest an additional $50 million into teacher pay over the next three years, officials said. But it still doesn’t meet the demands of the union, whose members are prepared to walk out of their classrooms in protest.
District officials had barely gotten through explaining their proposal before union negotiators asked to meet in private to discuss the deal. The crowd of at least 100 teachers and supporters in red T-shirts watching the exchange began chanting, “If they won’t pay us, shut it down!”
When union negotiators returned less than an hour later, they apologized to the crowd for “wasting your time.” Of district negotiators, lead union negotiator Rob Gould said, “They didn’t bring a proposal tonight. They brought a small IOU.”
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