East Aurora Teachers Approve New Contract

AURORA, IL - After more than a year of negotiations, East Aurora teachers on Wednesday approved a new contract that is now expected to go before the school board for approval on Monday.

The teachers' and staff union, after rejecting tentative agreements twice in the past year, voted overwhelmingly in favor of the new contract, with 870 union members voting for the contract and 434 voting against it, according to the Aurora Beacon-News.

The newspaper reports:

Some of the nearly 1,400 members of the union for months publicly highlighted concerns with their compensation, resources, work environment and other issues. Recently, union and school board officials have pointed to the district's climate and culture as one of the key remaining issues.

No details surrounding the tentative agreement have been released at this time.

The following statement following Wednesday's vote was posted on the school district's website:

The membership from East Aurora Council IFT/AFT Local 604 approved the latest tentative labor agreement in a vote taken Wednesday, March 30. The proposed contract will now be considered by the East Aurora School District 131 Board of Education at their regular meeting on Monday, April 4. If the Board approves the contract at that meeting, several parts of the contract will go into effect immediately.

The tentative agreement was reached between negotiating team members from Local 604 and representatives of the District’s negotiating team, who met for an extended time on Tuesday, March 15, to continue negotiations on a contract for the teachers, office staff, and support staff.

Per the agreement between both sides at the bargaining table, no details of the tentative agreement will be released until after it has been presented to both the union membership and the Board of Education.

Negotiations on this collective bargaining agreement began in October of 2014.