ANN ARBOR, Mich. (WXYZ) — Ahead of a Wednesday night board meeting, Ann Arbor teachers marched outside for 30 minutes demanding better pay and benefits.
Tamala Bell is a fourth grade teacher and vice president of the Ann Arbor Education Association. She says teachers are struggling, with some leaving for nearby districts that offer better pay.
"We're bringing everybody out here tonight in order to protest the rising costs of our health care and how it is unfair and inequitable,” Bell said. "One of the things we’re hearing directly from members are the number of members that have to take on two, three, even four jobs.”
With their current contract up at the end of next year, teachers wanted to make their demands clear. They moved their rally inside as the meeting was set to start.
As chanting teachers filled the room over capacity, the school board delayed the meeting for almost 45 minutes. Then one by one, teachers and supporters offered public comment.
“After 13 years of pay freezes, half steps and broken promises, I'm at a breaking point and you can see that we all are,” one teacher on the microphone said.
"I have spent my entire prime earning years watch my salary flatline," another teacher said. "You cannot ask us to keep biting the bullet.”
“We're subsidizing a lot of the other groups in the Ann Arbor Public Schools," AAEA President Fred Klein said. "They pay a lot of lower rates than we do, so our high costs subsidize their low costs, and we need that to change.”
The union says right now, the health care issue is top of mind, saying they’ll be paying double the out-of-pocket expenses they used to as teachers pay the brunt of the plan’s increase.
Hear more from teachers in our October report below:
“It's not good for students to have teachers who are overworked or they are fatigued because they’ve worked a second or third job,” Bell said. “In order for us to be able to do the best for our students each and every day, we have to be taken care of as well.”
A representative from the school district said they are currently in the middle of collective bargaining and hope to reach a resolution soon.
