The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers is pressuring the city’s school district to offer a “fair contract,” warning that a potential strike could upend the start of the academic year for thousands of students.
Public school classrooms reopen Aug. 25, and the PFT’s collective bargaining agreement expires the following Sunday, Aug. 31. Most district employees are due to return to work Monday.
Members of the union, which represents 14,000 teachers, nurses, counselors and other school staff, overwhelmingly voted in June to authorize a work stoppage, giving leaders the option to call for picket lines.
“We are making some progress on certain issues, which I will not divulge,” PFT President Arthur Steinberg said at a Wednesday morning news conference. “There is plenty of time to get an agreement done.
“There’s significant work that has to be done, but it’s doable. We’ve had much larger gaps to close in the past.”
School District of Philadelphia Superintendent Tony Watlington Sr. told reporters this week that he is “absolutely optimistic” his team will reach labor agreements with all of the unions representing school employees.
“The School District of Philadelphia highly values its teachers and support staff and continues to actively participate in conversations with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers and engage in good faith negotiations with the hope of securing a new contract as soon as possible,” the school system said in an Aug. 6 statement.
PFT leadership had hoped to reach a deal before the end of the academic term in June, so that labor negotiations would not be looming over the new school year, Steinberg said.
“We’re expecting the school district to meet us halfway,” LeShawna Coleman, the union’s chief of staff, said. “Every day negotiations are delayed is another day that educators have uncertainty as well as the public.”
As is often the case, wages are a sticking point, PFT officials said.
District teachers at the top of the pay scale earn about $20,000 less a year on average than similarly qualified educators in Lower Merion, Abington and Cheltenham, according to a union flier circulated as part of contract talks.
Higher salaries are integral to recruiting and retaining staff, amid a local and national teacher shortage, Steinberg said, adding that suburban school systems have been poaching educators from the city.
“Staffing shortages in our schools have many of us at the breaking point,” said Phelishia Comrie, a special education assistant at Kenderton Elementary in the Tioga section of North Philadelphia.
Gemayel Keyes said he has spent thousands of dollars to outfit his classroom with supplies since becoming a teacher three years ago through the Para Pathway program, a PFT and district career opportunity initiative.
“I walked into that classroom and the district gave me no materials, and I’m being honest,” added Keyes, who works at Gilbert Spruance School in Oxford Circle. “All the materials in that room pretty much came out of my pocket and out the pockets of my para-professionals that work alongside me.”
Among the other issues being discussed as part of the negotiations is building conditions, Steinberg said. The district has long struggled with aging facilities – dealing with everything from a lack of air conditioning in some schools to dangers posed by asbestos and lead.
“This is not on the PFT. It’s the district that has refused to come to the table,” Kate Sundeen, a teacher at South Philadelphia’s Academy at Palumbo High School, said. “When they say we already have more than we deserve, they’re saying our students don’t deserve more, and our students hear it.”
Much like SEPTA, the school district is facing a sizable budget deficit that officials say stems from the end of federal COVID-19 relief money.
Nearly half of the system’s reserves are being spent in the current fiscal year to cover a $341 million shortfall, and Watlington has warned that cuts are inevitable for the 2026-2027 school year without additional funding.
PFT and district leaders signed a one-year contract extension early last year that incorporated 5% pay increases and $1,200 bonuses.
In recent days, the union has been holding sign-making and strike preparation meetings, and half a dozen elected officials showed up Wednesday at the PFT’s Center City headquarters to show support at the news conference.
Philadelphia teachers have not walked the picket line since 1981, according to Steinberg. Should they strike, the PFT would be the second large, public-sector union to initiate a work stoppage, following AFSCME District Council 33’s eight-day strike last month.
