PHILADELPHIA – Despite ongoing contract negotiations over the holiday weekend, Philadelphia school and union officials were unable to agree on a new teachers contract to replace the one that expired Saturday.

About 4,000 current and retired teachers attended a Philadelphia Federation of Teachers membership meeting at Temple University Saturday to learn more about the status of contract negotiations with the school district, which is seeking over $100 million in concessions from the union and numerous work rule changes, Philly.com reports.

The district is also millions in relief from city and state officials. State officials have pledged extra funding if the teachers union agrees to significant concessions to help bridge the district’s $304 million budget deficit.

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The district wants the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers to agree to pay cuts between 5 and 13 percent, as well as contributions from employees toward their health insurance coverage. District officials are also pushing for a longer school day and the elimination of seniority as a factor in teacher assignments, the news site reports.

It seemed clear when teachers met on Labor Day weekend that the district’s proposals are unacceptable to PFT members.

“PFT members will not take a 5, 10, or 13 percent pay cut,” PFT President Jerry Jordan told members, according to Philly.com.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, told teachers at the recent meeting the outcome of negotiations in Philadelphia will set the tone for negotiations in other states.

“This is a metaphor for how a country, a state, and a city actually treats its most vulnerable charges,” Weingarten said, according to news reports.

The union also released a poll that allegedly shows 65 percent of respondents don’t like how Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter is handling the city’s education problems. The week prior, the PFT launched a series of attack ads attempting to paint Nutter as the puppet of reform-minded Gov. Tom Corbett.

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“It’s rather odd that, with an expired contract, the PFT is spending time on anything not directly related to negotiations,” Nutter told Philly.com. “It’s not about polls or thousands of dollars spent on a false ad campaign. It’s about Philadelphia children and public education.”

That should be the case, but it’s obvious the PFT, and the thousands of teachers who voted over the weekend to continue negotiations, have other priorities.

The union’s opposition likely stems from the fact that without a new contract, the provisions of the current agreement may remain in place. That would mean no pay cuts, no insurance contributions, and no sacrifice from teachers and other employees represented by the PFT.

Of course, resisting concessions and delaying a new agreement would also ensure thousands of teachers laid off because of the budget crisis will remain unemployed. The district could rehire thousands of teachers, counselors, nurses and other employees with money saved through union concessions, but the PFT seems content moving forward with the status quo.

The stall tactic is one that’s been used by unions in numerous states where expired contracts remain enforceable after they’ve expired. In Buffalo, the union has been without a contract for more than a decade.

The Philadelphia school district is run by a state-appointed School Reform Commission with the authority to make a lot of important decisions without the union’s input. But its authority to impose a new teachers contract if negotiations fail is unclear.

Considering the PFT’s ongoing opposition to concessions as school starts this week, perhaps state legislators should find a way to clarify the law to allow the school reform commission to take control of the situation and put student interests ahead of the union’s selfish concerns.