A strike that could close schools in Gary loomed Thursday as teachers and service employees agreed to present a united front in contract negotiations with the school board.
Members of Gary Teachers Union Local 4 late Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike, after contract talks collapsed earlier in the day.
A tentative strike date was set for Monday. Gary`s public school system is Indiana`s third largest, with an enrollment of 27,000.
Officials of the teachers union, an affiliate of the Indiana Federation of Teachers, and leaders of Local 208 of the Service Employees International Union agreed that neither would present a contract settlement to its members until the other also had an agreement.
Contracts with both unions expired Dec. 31.
The main issue in the dispute with teachers remains pay, with the district offering a two-year contract with annual increases of 4 percent.
Sandra Irons, president of the teachers union, which represents 1,600 teachers and 580 teacher aides, said Thursday the union was seeking annual pay raises of 12 and 10 percent. She acknowledged that those demands were offered only as a point to begin negotiations, but said the district has refused to bargain.
The service employees union, also at an impasse over salaries, represents 800 custodians, food-service workers, secretaries and clerical aides.
Efforts to reach school board members for comment were unsuccessful.
”They gave us an offer and we told them that it wasn`t acceptable, and they said that was that,” Irons said.
”With our group and their group combined, we would have a 100-percent effective strike,” service union President William Willett said Thursday.
Should the teachers strike, it would be the second time in two years that classes in Gary have been disrupted in the middle of a school year. In March, 1984, a strike over salaries lasted 18 days.
