OFFERS NARROW, BUT STRIKE CONTINUES

CAIRO, Ill. -- Although both sides made concessions Wednesday, talks broke off late Wednesday night without a settlement to the Cairo teachers strike that started more than a month ago.

With teachers in one office and school board members in another, proposals and counter-proposals were dispatched back and forth late into the night Wednesday.

Ron Newell, president of the Cairo Teachers Association, said the school board's final offer was a 4.9 percent pay increase for teachers in the contract's first year, rising to 6 percent by the second year.

But negotiators for the school district staff held out for a 4 percent across-the-board pay increase plus additional increases of 1.8 percent based on teachers' education and experience.

The district's 73 teachers have been on strike since Nov. 17. The union initially demanded a 6 percent pay raise plus additional increases of up to 2.9 percent based on education and experience. But the school board had said 4 percent was all it could afford.

The school board voted earlier this month to accept arbitration. The teachers agreed, but with stipulations. One condition is that the district agree not to lay off any teachers for two years.

But Superintendent Elaine Bonifield said the district can't agree to that because financial conditions could worsen.

The Cairo Association of Teachers has said it filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, accusing the district of not bargaining in good faith.

Newell said Wednesday night that the union offered to drop the complaint if the school board agreed to its terms.

"We said we would drop the (complaint), ratify a contract and get the kids back in school tomorrow," Newell said.

"It is frustrating," he added. "We get this close and they back off. We have come down from 9 percent to 4 percent and a step, and they say 4.9 percent and no step. That is an insult."

Bonifield said Wednesday that she talked with organizers of the Carbondale holiday basketball tournament, who agreed to hold a spot for Cairo if a contract agreement could be reached Wednesday night.

That apparently won't happen.

When asked when he expected to be back at the bargaining table, Newell said he didn't know.

"Our last negotiations were Nov. 22," he said. "This is Dec. 21. At this point, I don't even want to make a guess."

The strike has kept 1,048 elementary and high school students out of classes for 24 school days.

With Christmas holidays approaching, the pressure on both sides has increased.

The strike's duration means students and teachers face the prospect of making up missed classes over holidays or into next summer.