PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – The Ridgefield Education Association announced the union ratified a three-year collective bargaining agreement with the Ridgefield School District on Tuesday following a teacher’s strike beginning in early September.
According to REA, teachers voted 99% in favor of the contract, which the union says makes progress towards “granting teacher commensurate pay for heavier workloads.”
In a press release, the union added that the contract will help retain teachers, provide annual cost-of-living increases, de-escalation training, improvements to class size and improvements to special education workloads over the next couple of years.
The ratified agreement comes after a tentative agreement was reached on Sunday, and after the union authorized the end of the teacher’s strike which began on September 9, REA said.
“Thank you to our incredible Ridgefield families and our community who stuck with us and supported us through this bargain,” Ridgefield Education Association Co-Presidents Kara Breuer and Elizabeth Stamp said. “We should be proud of what we achieved together, and we look forward to continuing conversations with our community.”
REA said it represents about 240 teachers in the school district.