Principals' tentative deal: Will other unions follow?

With the principals' union reaching a tentative deal this week with the school district to help close a monstrous budget hole, the district's other unions may face more pressure to follow suit.

That doesn't mean they're ready to budge.

Michael Lodise, president of the district's police union, said the principals' plan, which includes unspecified givebacks, doesn't change his position.

Besides the principals' union, the union that represents blue-collar workers, Local 1201, has agreed to amend its existing contract.

"They're negotiating their life away," Lodise said. "We haven't changed our position and neither has the [Philadelphia Federation of Teachers]."

The proposed contract-modification agreement between the Commonwealth Association of School Administrators - the principals' union - and the district includes employee givebacks, though union president Robert McGrogan declined to elaborate on the details.

Members of CASA are to vote Aug. 3 on the proposed amendments. All performance-based step raises for members will be upheld until the conclusion of that meeting, according to CASA's website.

Still facing a roughly $110 million budget shortfall, the district is asking the unions to help the district save $75 million.

Without those savings, district officials have said that more layoffs are imminent. In an unprecedented series of layoffs this spring, about 1,500 teachers lost their jobs. That doesn't include the roughly 1,200 other employees who also got pink slips.

The School Reform Commission didn't make good on its threat to cancel union contracts should the unions not come up with the requested amount in savings by June 30, but SRC Chairman Robert Archie has extended that deadline until the end of July, district spokeswoman Jamilah Fraser said.

It's not yet clear how the district will proceed with CASA and other unions if members vote against the proposed contract changes.

"We'd have to cross that bridge when we get there," Fraser said.