Fremont teachers rally as district, union work towards new contract to avoid strike

FREMONT, Calif. (KGO) -- Bay Area teachers considering walking off the job rallied in Fremont Monday.

The rally happened as discussions went on all day between the Fremont Unified District Teachers Association and Fremont Unified School District.

"I can probably say very confidently that every educator comes into this profession because kids are at the heart of what we do, and we're always fighting for them," Victoria Chon, president of the teachers association said at the rally outside the association's headquarters.

Happening inside the building during their rally, was a critical fact-finding hearing between the school district and the teachers association.

"Before we (went) to the fact finding hearing, we had negotiation meetings - we had over 20 negotiation meetings and then we had our fact finding hearing," Chon said.

The fact-finding hearing is where both sides share their concerns, and state what they think is fair.

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According to the Fremont Unified School District, the fact-finding session has the district and the Teachers Association presenting their cases to a three-person panel. That includes a representative from both sides and a neutral state-appointed expert. The panel will then write a report with ideas on how everyone can come to an agreement.

The teachers say they're calling for smaller class sizes and a salary increase.

Nicole Black has been teaching in the district for 27 years and said it's disappointing that teachers are so close to a strike.

"I've been here through many contracts, and this is the farthest that we've come in my time being here and it saddens me," she said. "It saddens me because we always are at the last minute, fighting for the same things."

Another ask from the union members of the school district was healthcare contributions.

The union said teachers don't get health benefit contributions and are pushing for at least $1,000 healthcare contribution per year.

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"We're not asking for them to pay all of it, just give them something to offset the cost. Every year healthcare rises, but our salaries don't rise with it," Black said.

We reached out to the district Monday who confirmed to ABC7 News that they were in the fact-finding hearing. They said that they are hopeful to reach an agreement.

In its most recent statement, it said in part:

"Like most districts throughout the state, the financial realities we face present significant challenges. Factors such as uncertainty in state funding, declining enrollment, the expiration of one-time COVID relief funds, rising pension costs, and ambiguity in federal funding, limit our ability to sustainably fund the compensation increases being proposed.

The union got a 93% strike authorization vote from members to strike if needed.

When ABC7 News asked the union how soon they could strike if an agreement is not reached in the fact-finding hearing, it said they are working hard towards an agreement until they can't anymore and did not want to announce a timeline just yet.