Talks Continue Wednesday Amid Waukegan Teachers' Strike
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Negotiators said they intend to return to the bargaining table Wednesday in the strike by teachers in Waukegan, where classes remain canceled.
For much of the day Tuesday, Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 chief negotiator Tony Ficarelli said he believed that progress was being made in talks with the Lake County Federation of Teachers, but in the end it proved to be a mirage.
Ficarelli said the teachers were "adamant," and that their demands on pay and health care benefits was "not fiscally responsible."
He said the board has offered a two-year contract with a 3.9 percent raise each year. He said the teachers are holding out for more than 6 percent, and will not consider the board's demand that teachers begin sharing in the payment of health care premiums.
The teachers' health care benefits are paid in full by District 60 under terms of their expired contract.
"The hours definitely could have been used more productively," said union spokesman Kenzo Shibata. "The slight, miniscule movement the board has made shouldn't take a 12-hour day, plus, to get to."
The teachers said the board can easily afford the terms they're seeking.
The strike affects more than 17,000 students and 1,200 teachers at 23 schools. The teachers walked out on Oct. 2.
