RICHMOND, Va. β The Richmond Public Schools board approved a revised collective bargaining resolution in a contentious 5-4 vote Tuesday night, despite strong opposition from educators who packed the meeting room.
The decision came after months of protests, numerous negotiation meetings, and a full list of public comments from frustrated teachers and union representatives wearing red to show solidarity.
"The resulting document still does not accurately reflect union voices especially considering we never expected to get everything we asked for," one educator said during public comment.
Many educators who spoke before the vote expressed disapproval of the resolution and asked for the vote to be deferred again. They wanted more transparency and several key changes, including a more streamlined grievance policy and stronger language regarding how many items union representatives could negotiate in a contract.
"Why don't we continue the current negotiation cycle using the current resolution and delay any possible changes until after new state representatives take office," one speaker suggested.
While some attendees supported the revised agreement, saying compromises had been made during negotiations, the majority of those in attendance left feeling disappointed.
"We compromised and we agreed on what's before you tonight and anybody that's telling you otherwise was not in the room," one supporter said.
Another added, "I believe the compromise reflects fairly what both sides agreed to."
However, most educators in attendance expressed their intention to continue advocating for change in the future.
"We're going to continue marching down the road of progress, we will keep fighting, we'll keep struggling we're going to get organized and we're going to fight to win the schools that our students deserve," one educator said.
After the vote, disappointed educators gathered outside the meeting, chanting "Shame! Shame!" as they left the building.
The full collective bargaining resolution that was voted on is available here.
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