The fight over a contract for Buffalo teachers is heating up

The stress is beginning to show. And over the next two weeks, it promises to get worse.

The most recent evidence came Wednesday when teachers picketed outside a board meeting, the union president issued an ultimatum to the board and then virtually all of the teachers turned their back on the board and marched out chanting "fair contract now."

"The teachers are angry," Buffalo Teachers Federation President Phil Rumore told the board, to loud applause from the teachers, "and they should be."

Rumore confirmed Friday that the teachers union at its Thursday meeting passed a motion unanimously that the BTF would give a "vote of no confidence" in the school board and Superintendent Tonja Williams if a new collective bargaining agreement was not signed by the union's next meeting Oct. 11. More than 100 members from the union's council of delegates attended in addition to the BTF's executive committee.

Rumore said the teachers have been without a contract since 2019 and have been feeling the effects of "three years of devastating inflation."

In the hours following the union demonstration Wednesday, the school board, the district's general counsel and an 8-year-old spoke out against the teachers' walkout.

"I was kind of upset the way the teachers just walked out like that, because if a student walked out of the classroom mad and upset, they would get in trouble for walking out of the classroom while the teacher was speaking," said Yaminah Williams, a student at Persistence Prep Academy. "I understand they were mad and kind of upset, but they can't just walk out."

"We want a sound and honorable contract. Negotiation means give and take on both sides, and you can't stonewall people and just say, 'You've got two weeks and you've got to agree to whatever we say,' " School Superintendent Tonja Williams said. "That's not really negotiating in good faith."

The district's most recent proposal from April 28 would ultimately bump the average Buffalo Public School teacher salary from $72,000 to $84,000, according to Nathaniel Kuzma, the district's general counsel and chief negotiator. More specifically, pay increases would be tiered, with a 6% bump upon contract ratification, another 6% July 1, 2023, and then 4% on July 1, 2024. The first two tiers would be increases, on average, of $4,500 per teacher, while the third would be about $3,300 on average. An additional 6% one-time bonus for each teacher, based off the post-ratification salary, would essentially give teachers a rough average increase of $9,000.

Kuzma then shared the teachers union's latest proposals, including three presented May 6. BTF proposed that each year between 2019-2026 would have a salary increase of 10% plus a cost-of-living adjustment ranging between 1.7% and 5.9%. The BTF proposal, Kuzma said, also included removing one step each year from the teachers' salary schedule, which the union has noted takes longer to reach maximum payment than suburban districts. 

Under the district's proposal, Kuzma said the net cost for the 2022-23 school year would be $37 million and $181 million over four years. Under the union's proposal, Kuzma said the net cost for 2022-23 would be $675 million and $2.2 billion over four years. Under the district proposal, teachers would make an average of $84,000 per year by 2025-26. Under the union's, he said, teachers would make an average of $189,000.

"Nothing is more important in my work than settling a fair contract with our teachers," Kuzma said of the largest of the 11 unions with which he negotiates. "The proposal from the other side is something that's absolutely unattainable and unaffordable and completely out of line with reality than anything I've ever seen doing this work."