The Sacramento County Superior Court yesterday afternoon (February 6) granted the Sacramento City Teachers Association (SCTA) motion to force the Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) to arbitrate the parties’ ongoing salary dispute.

“It’s a clear victory. It’s a shame that the SCUSD frivolously spent precious resources on attorneys rather than using those resources in our classrooms,” said SCTA President David Fisher.

The court ruled that the issue was “not even a close call,” he added.  According to the negotiated agreement, the dispute must be presented to a labor arbitrator. In mid-November 2018 SCUSD abruptly called off arbitration proceedings and instead sued SCTA over the salary dispute.  “It was a thinly veiled effort to delay the inevitable,” Fisher said. “The whole dispute could have been resolved months ago.”

With this ruling, an experienced labor arbitrator can resolve the dispute, Fisher said. The “SCUSD’s gambit undoubtedly came at considerable financial cost. SCUSD evidently sees no problem paying hefty legal fees to its outside attorneys even as it pleads financial distress to its teachers and pupils.”

Negotiations has been contentious with the SCUSD claiming it is broke.  SCTA leaders have offered to assist, and have been educating members on the school budget.

SCTA leaders Bob Priestley, David Fisher, Laura Shirley, Nikki Milevsky, Cindee Stewart and Peggy Watson leave the courthouse with CTA attorney Jacob Rukeyser.