Minneapolis teachers and district leaders met Tuesday in their last scheduled mediation session, but after more than eight hours of negotiations, they had yet to reach a settlement to prevent the union from going on strike.
The groups met Tuesday afternoon and were still in discussions as of 9 p.m. Tuesday with no deal reached.
Tuesday’s talks marked the seventh closed-doors session between the district and the teachers union since bargaining began in April — earlier in the process than usual — and carried with it suddenly higher stakes.
Minneapolis Federation of Educators leaders, citing a lack of progress on provisions relating to class sizes, special-education caseloads and pay, said last week that the union would conduct a strike authorization vote beginning Thursday if an agreement was not reached Tuesday.
If the rank-and-file were to then give permission to strike, MFE leaders could call for a walkout to begin in November.
State law requires a 10-day waiting period for the two sides to continue to negotiate.
The two sides are negotiating separate contracts for teachers and for education support professionals (ESPs) — who, for example, assist teachers by working closely with special-education students.
Here’s what the two sides have said:
