With his bid to take greater control over New York City schools from the state and city now likely to succeed (see WIT?s for June 5, 2002 and May 13, 2002), Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced that he is hopeful a contract settlement can be reached with the city?s teachers. Negotiators from both sides met for five hours yesterday at the United Federation of Teacher?s (UFT?s) headquarters, and?while a settlement was not reached?the results were promising enough that UFT President Randi Weingarten has asked that the counting of a membership-wide strike vote be delayed while meetings continue. A settlement is still sticking on the use of an agreed on twenty-minute extension of the school day, and on whether the city will live up to the wage raise recommended by a state fact-finding panel.
See "Mayor Confident as City and Teachers Hold Talks", STEVEN GREENHOUSE, The New York Times, June 9, 2002