By Tom Weber, KWMU
East St. Louis, ILL. – Teachers in East St. Louis Sunday rejected the latest contract offer from the school district. That means a strike will begin tomorrow if there's no agreement by then.
Union President Peggy LeCompte says more than 700 of the union's 850 members who met yesterday learned proposed cuts to health benefits would eat up a 1%-2% pay increase. "When we costed it out we wouldn't be getting a raise, we'd be giving back," LeCompte said. "And [we'd be] not having the same insurance benefits we had and that was not acceptable to the membership at all."
A strike would affect about 10,000 students. LeCompte says she's willing to negotiate all day Monday to keep schools open.
Classes started in East St. Louis two weeks ago.