Detroit teachers union calls for district-wide sick-out Monday

The union representing Detroit Public Schools' more than 2,600 teachers called for a district-wide sick-out on Monday, which could potentially shut down all the schools serving more than 46,000 students. 

The action, announced Sunday, comes one day after DPS emergency manager Judge Steven Rhodes told the union that unless the state Legislature approves sending more money to the district, there is not enough in the coffers to pay teachers their already-earned salaries after June 30. Summer school and extended special education services would also be canceled.

Teachers said Sunday they were assured by DPS that the $48.7 million in a bill signed by Gov. Rick Snyder last month to fund the district through June 30 would cover summer pay for the approximately two-thirds of district teachers who signed up for the plan, which allows for paychecks year-round instead of just during the school year.

DPS: No teacher paychecks, summer school after June 30

"The district’s promises are no longer worth the paper that they are printed on," Terrence Martin, executive vice president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, said during a hastily called news conference where officials announced they were urging teachers to call in sick Monday to disrupt operations.

"While we recognize that this puts Detroit’s parents and communities in a difficult situation, the district’s broken promises and gross negligence leave us no choice."

DPS on Sunday night still had not announced any school closures, said spokeswoman Michelle Zdrodowski.

Martin said teachers will demonstrate Monday in front of the Fisher Building, demanding "the pay we have earned" and a third-party audit of DPS spending.

"We would like to go through the district’s books and find out where the money has been going," union interim president Ivy Bailey said.

The union plans an emergency meeting Tuesday night, where it will hold a voice vote "to authorize a major collective action," followed by secret ballot votes in schools on Wednesday and Thursday, said Martin.

Union officials did not specify if their collective action could include a strike — which has technically been illegal for teachers, police, fire and other municipal workers in Michigan since 1947, but have still occurred over the years. 

"You’re telling people to come to work, but we aren’t necessarily going to pay you, that’s a lockout. And we have to be able to respond to what we see as a lockout," said union administrator Ann Mitchell.

DPS, which has been under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager since 2009, has an operating deficit of $515 million. A $715-million education reform package to help keep the district afloat is currently being debated in the Michigan House of Representatives.  The state Senate approved the package in March.

Rhodes, in a statement Sunday, called the union's proposed sick-out "counterproductive and detrimental to the efforts of everyone working to help the district."

"I am on record as saying that I cannot in good conscience ask anyone to work without pay.  Wages that are owed to teachers should be paid. I understand the frustration and anger that our teachers feel.”

Rhodes added he is confident the Legislature “understands the urgency of this situation and will act in a timely manner” to ensure both that teachers get paid for their work and that school district operations continue uninterrupted.

Snyder, through his spokesman Ari Adler, declined to comment Sunday.

Earlier this school year, some DPS teachers used sick-outs in protest of what they call deplorable building conditions, their rate of pay and other issues. In January, when sick-outs closed dozens of schools, the district sued the union, claiming it was promoting, in effect, teacher strikes, which are illegal under the Michigan Public Employment Relations Act. A judge ruled there was no proof the union or its leadership encouraged the mass absences of teachers.

Asked to comment on Sunday's sick-out call by the teachers union, state House Speaker Kevin Cotter's press secretary, Gideon D'Assandro, referred the Free Press to his comments in January, where the speaker decried the thousands of instructional hours lost for Detroit schoolchildren in earlier sick-out actions.

"Almost every day that goes by brings another sick-out that puts Detroit's school children even further behind," said Cotter, R-Mt. Pleasant, in a January statement. "This political maneuvering goes against the very purpose of these schools by putting the wants of adults ahead of the needs of the children. These teachers deserve to be  fired for turning their backs on the children in their care."

But Steve Conn, ousted former president of the DFT who still retains support from some of its members, said teachers' actions are fighting for the students and educational programs.

"They're talking about canceling summer school," Conn said. "They're talking about canceling special education, which is a total disaster.

"Even in the immediate terms, we’re fighting to keep schools open and maintain programs. But that’s always the case. We’re the ones fighting for education; they’re the ones trying to destroy it."

A sick-out doesn't go far enough, Conn said.

"We can defeat Snyder’s attempts to destroy the district and win ourselves a contract and all of the other things we need. But it’s going to take a full-blown strike," he said.

Staff writers Jim Schaefer, David Jesse, Kathleen Gray,  Paul Egan and Ann Zaniewski contributed to this report