TOLEDO, Ohio — Tension is rising as the Teachers Association of Washington Local Schools continues to negotiate terms for a new contract. And those tensions are nearing a breaking point, according to the union's spokesperson.
After 144 days of negotiations, as of Thursday, there is still no agreement in sight between the school district and the union.
"We're not walking away from the table just yet, but we're getting awfully close," said TAWLS spokesperson Jeff Christoffers.
Christoffers, a teacher at Monac Elementary, says that frustrations have stemmed from the stalled talks that intensified following Wednesday night's board of education meeting.
"We simply haven't seen any movement, so we're not simply looking at words at this point," he said. "Words just don't burn the calories that actions do."
But now, Christoffers says TAWLS may take action itself.
"The barometer within our membership is that they are going to want to do a vote of no confidence," he said.
A vote of no confidence is when a majority of a union a vote does not support the district and feels there's no confidence in reaching a deal.
This vote does not mean a union is striking, though. It opens the door for the union to file a 10-day notice of a strike, which Christoffers says the 502 members are willing to do.
"We've resurveyed them last week and the numbers that came back, the concerns that came back just let us know that there is no confidence right now and we're leaning towards that," Christoffers said.
Christoffers says that despite this, attempts at negotiations will continue. He added that the union is negotiating for more pay for educators, but past stalled talks have resulted in the two sides entering fact-finding a month ago.
WLS' Board President, Mike Murphy, shared the following statement with WTOL 11:
"Multiple mediation attempts with both state and federal mediators brought the Washington Local School Board and TAWLS very close to a mutual agreement, but both sides could not reach common ground. As a result, we remain committed to the dispute resolution process and a recommendation that will come from an independent 3rd party through fact-finding. This dispute resolution process is designed for these situations and is scheduled to occur in January.
This Board agrees that our teachers deserve compensation that respects their work, while still honoring fiscal accountability to our community, and we remain optimistic that this process will help us reach a resolution that does both."
A strike potentially in the near future worries those in the community. Judy Thomaswick, a nearby resident of the district, remembers the last time teachers at WLS went on strike in 1984. She hopes it doesn't happen again, for the students' sake.
"The impact would be devastating," Thomaswick said. "I think we've done so many good things since COVID and since we've gotten back to the classroom, that it would just be a step backwards."