Streator Education Association sets April 11 strike date

The Streator Education Association is set to strike Friday, April 11, if a labor agreement is not met.

The two main issues on the table are teachers salary and support staff benefits (bringing them to full-time with insurance), the union said Monday in a news release. The union consists of teachers and support staff.

The union’s full membership met Monday to announce a strike. Its leadership said it has notified the Streator Elementary School Board and are awaiting a date for negotiations.

The Board released its own statement Monday ahead of the union’s strike vote. The Streator Board of Education said last week it made a monetary proposal to the SEA in an effort to break the impasse between the parties and avoid a strike.

“The Board proposed to raise the teachers’ salaries in the first year by 7% – this results in a starting teacher salary of almost $46,000 as part of a larger compensation package that would raise salaries for teachers by over 20% over the course of three years," the district said in its statement. “Streator’s starting teacher salary (of $45,659 per year) would be among the highest of our surrounding districts.”

The Streator Education Association responded that the Board’s last offer was 15% over three years.

“The Board continues to state to the press and social media that they are offering a 20% raise,” the union said. “People need to be aware that this includes benefits and pension payments that we already receive.”

Board President Angela Risley said the board is trying to balance offering a compensation to teachers and financial responsibility.

“We have a duty to the children to provide a world class education and a duty to the taxpayer to provide that education without excessive financial burden,” Risley said. “Our most recent offer achieves top tier compensation while facing the reality of the school district’s and the greater community’s precarious economic circumstances. We are facing uncertain times where we all need to be cautious about spending the taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars. We eagerly await the Association’s response and remain willing to meet should the Association be open to further discussion.”

The teachers and support staff union voted in January to start the 45-day clock on a potential strike. In February, the SEA initiated the public posting process, which is a prerequisite to a strike. As part of this process, the association and the board were required to submit their public posting documents to the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board.