No contract, but teachers back at school in Buffalo

BUFFALO, New York (AP) -- Classes resumed Monday for 47,000 Buffalo students after a teachers strike canceled two days of school.

MESSAGE BOARD Teacher strikes

A contract agreement still hadn't been reached, and teachers conducted informational picketing before school.

However, Philip Rumore, president of the Buffalo Teachers Federation, announced Sunday that the union had agreed to a recommendation by a state labor mediator to return to classes while talks continue.

The district's 3,800 teachers have been without a contract since June 1999.

The teachers want raises of 3.5 percent in four out of five years of the contract. The district's latest offer, reported Friday, contained across-the-board yearly raises of 2 percent in three out of four years.

The strike violated the state's Taylor Law, which bans public employee strikes. Teachers could be fined two days' pay for every day off the job, and the union could face additional penalties.

"Both sides are working very hard, and we haven't reached a settlement yet," Rumore said Sunday. "I can't give any predictions as to how long it will go on."

Elsewhere, negotiators for the Philadelphia School District and teachers' union continued talks Monday after failing to reach a contract agreement during the weekend. The 21,000-member Philadelphia Federation of Teachers has not gone on strike since 1981.

Philadelphia schools were open Monday. Union officials would not give assurances that they would remain open beyond Monday, but the union had not given the district a required 48-hour notice of its intention to strike.

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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