contract negotiations update: Tentative agreement reached

Dear NHFT Members, 
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On behalf of our dedicated Negotiations Committee, I am excited to announce that we have reached a tentative agreement with the New Haven Board of Education. Our next step is to convene an NHFT general membership meeting on Thursday, October 27 at 4:00pm at the Wilbur Cross High School Auditorium. It is important that you join us at this meeting where we will share the details of our new contract and encourage members to vote in support of ratification. 

Throughout this process, we have been committed to positively impacting teacher retention and working conditions, and we are proud of what we have accomplished. As with every negotiation, we didn’t win all of our proposals, but we will continue to organize and advocate for our members and our schools. We are optimistic about our new contract and the work ahead. 

In advance of Thursday’s meeting, we want to share a few important highlights: 

• We negotiated a historic salary agreement that includes step movement and longevity pay, as well as raises for every member for all three years of our next contract. 
• While we made some compromises, we were able to protect against some of the Board’s most concerning proposals including the requirement that departmentalized teachers teach a 6th class.

Overall, we are extremely proud of our work and we will recommend ratification of this tentative agreement. Be on the lookout for an executive summary that we will share next week so you can review additional details in advance of our general membership meeting.
I also want to thank every one of you who helped us arrive at this moment. From completing our teacher retention survey, to participating in negotiations working groups, to calling and messaging the mayor and the Board of Education, to wearing blue this week in support of a fair contract — you demonstrated your solidarity and commitment to our union! We continue to grow stronger every day.

Lastly, I want to thank our negotiations team for their collective effort to deliver our union members a fair contract. They dedicated weeks of their summer vacation, as well as long nights and holidays, to prepare for negotiations and ultimately get the job done. I hope you will join us next Thursday, October 27 at 4pm at Wilbur Cross to learn more about our tentative agreement, to thank our team for their tireless efforts, and to vote in support of ratification of our next contract.

In solidarity,

Leslie Blatteau
NHFT President