"The Detroit Federation of Teachers approved a new 3-year contract early this morning that calls for salaried teachers to loan $10,000 to the district over a period of 40 paychecks, no pay increases until 2011, and nearly $28 million in savings on health care costs'.
By a 3,578 to 2,031 vote, teachers ratified the new agreement which goes into effect immediately and contains new academic reforms such as a comprehensive teacher evaluation system and school-based performance bonuses and a system of priority schools. It affects 7,000 union members.
'This was a contract that had to be negotiated under the most difficult of circumstances so it's not happiness on my part but relief that the membership paid more attention to our truth than the lies and rhetoric of the dissidents,' said Union President Keith Johnson."