Lynn Teachers Union ratifies contracts

LYNN – The Lynn Teachers Union ratified 2009-10 contracts for teachers and paraprofessionals Monday, voting against a wage increase given the state of the economy.Teachers Union President Alice Gunning said Tuesday that the contracts were for one year and did not include any wage increase, although step increases will still be applied to eligible teachers based on time served.”We feel that we have preserved the integrity of the contract by not losing anything this year,” she said. “We felt given the times that it would not be appropriate to support a raise.”Superintendent Catherine Latham, who was forced to lay off more than 80 teachers this summer due to budget cuts, said that there was no room in the budget to support a raise for teachers.”I am grateful for the fact that they voted to keep contracts the same,” she said. “I think they understand the tough situation that we are in with the budget.”Gunning said that the therapists and psychiatrists would be voting to ratify a similar contract last night.