TENTATIVE AGREEMENT 

SUMMARY

POLICY

There were many questions concerning the upcoming election that our national union has addressed. They recommended we maintain the nominations but restart the rest of the process including hiring a new election judge. They asked that all of us, the Executive Board, the Stewards Council, and the Election Committee work together on a new schedule and that we all commit  to ensure the election is unbiased, inclusive, accountable, and reflects the free expression and will  of our union members. 

     The Executive Board and Election Committee are working jointly to present the plan for approval at

For more information: 

(314) 781-2077 rcummings@stltu.org

For Immediate Release:

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Ray Cummings, the Interim President of AFT St. Louis, Local 420, AFLCIO which represents teachers and school related personnel in the St. Louis Public Schools, issued a call to action regarding Missouri Governor Parson, “it is time for Governor Parson to follow science and the advice of health care professionals, it is time to issue a statewide mask mandate.” 

“We support Dr. Alex Garza, incident commander for the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force, and his request for a mask mandate.We ask

Dear Colleague,

As you may know, an election for the officers of your union, AFT St. Louis, Local 420, was postponed by a vote of the stewards and executive board from spring 2020 to the fall due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially, the new election process was scheduled to culminate with in-person voting on Thursday, Nov. 12, and Saturday, Nov. 14. Unfortunately, some confusion arose with the election process, and as a result, the national union was asked by several Local 420 members, leaders and candidates for clarification and intervention. Here follows, after a thorough investigation and

Fiction: I haven’t had a raise in 5 years

Fact: Although not enough, here are the facts about the raises we received from 2017-2019:

Our Collective Bargaining Agreement (contract) that expired on June 30, 2020 was negotiated by then President Mary J. Armstrong and it contained raises from 2017 to June 30, 2020

It should be noted that the salary increase table below was the 5^th offer from the district after a lengthy set of negotiations. The Agreement (contract) was be finally ratified by a vote of our membership in 2017.  A ratification vote is required by the constitution before term can be

Local 420 has adopted two main goals for reopening our schools. 

First, to make sure that when our schools do reopen they are safe for students, staff, and the students’ families.  In consultation with the St. Louis Department of Health according to CDC guidelines;Our second goal is that our students will receive quality instruction which will result in successful outcomes for them and our community.

In consultation with the St. Louis Department of Health according to CDC guidelines; https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/guidance-for-schools.html and AFT’s Plan to Safely Reopen America’s Schools and Communities; https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/covid19_reopen-america-schools.pdf  in order to increase our probability of success.

Our second goal is that our students will receive quality instruction which will result in successful outcomes for them and our community. No matter whether that instruction in on-line, blended; https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/education/story/2020-05-03/school-districts-may-switch-to-blended-learning-an-area-dominated-by-charter-school, site-based or any combination of the three

To that end, three of our experienced Building Stewards have been appointed to the SLPS Restart School Task Force.  They are:

●                    Kathy Gregory/Griscom – Instruction subcommittee

●                    John Moore/Clyde Miller – Facilities & School Operations subcommittee

●                    Carron Johnson/Gateway Middle – CoChair/Facilities & School Operations 

Please feel free to email any ideas and suggestions you may have to communications@stltu.org

Contract Approval

Our present contract expires on June 30, 2020.  If a tentative agreement is not reached before the deadline, do not worry.  It is not unusual to have a contract expire and if it does, we will continue working under our present contract language until an agreement is reached.  Our salaries will also remain the same and then when an agreement is reached salaries will be retroactive back to the 1st day of the new contract.

According to our By-Laws, negotiations &  a ratification vote (approval of the contract) with SLPS is as follows:

1.  Negotiation committee solicits membership