workers news

By Doug Cunningham

The Newark Teachers Union has won a big arbitration victory that awarded millions of dollars to hundreds of teachers. The arbitrator decided that the state of New Jersey violated a 2012 collective bargaining agreement by reneging on major provisions the state had agreed to. AFT President Randi Weingarten said “Gov. Christie and his appointees really didn’t care about respecting educators or making Newark public schools better, so they ignored the aspects of the then-new contract that enabled teacher voice and professionalism.”

Newark Teachers Union President John Abeigon.

[John Abeigon]: “Oh, we were ecstatic when we got the news. We won five out of the seven grievances. That’s pretty much keeping with our success rate over the years.

But more importantly we’re happy from the members that are gonna benefit from this.”

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