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Another potentially troubling note from the newest article linked in my prior comment: "Solomon noted the City Council has not yet been provided legislative language concerning the contract."

In its December 2017 newsletter, the WTU states: "The WTU and the WSC will now proofread the CBAs before they are printed."

http://warwickteachersunion.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/12-2017-NEWSLETTER.pdf

It is now nearly a month since the school committee and WTU held their respective votes on the contract, and apparently they have yet to complete the proofreading of the two contracts, one for the time prior to 2017 and the other for after 2017.

According to the article on this page, WTU president Netcoh brought the school committee-approved contract to her membership with a letter from school committee chairwoman Furtado saying that the retro payments would be made on Dec. 21: "If I did not have that signature and that date, then I would not have put that date in front of the members and they would not have voted that evening [Nov. 21] to ratify.”

What Netcoh is saying is that the WTU sought reassurances for retro pay, holding open the potential to further delay a vote on the contracts they negotiated -- and that it takes at least another month to "proofread" the contracts -- ?

Not only that, but the Dec. 21 date was apparently part of a letter from Furtado [not language in the contracts] that also has not been made public. The WTU newsletter only states that the "go-forward rate," or the contractual raise, would go into effect on Dec. 21.

So, the WTU is looking to enforce a letter [not the contracts, despite what the union protesters claimed] that promised retro pay on a date that even the union did not publish in its newsletter, without completing its obligation to proofread the contracts so they could be submitted to the city council.

Granted, it could be argued that the school committee has not proofread the contracts, either -- but both sides had to complete the process before going to the city council to ensure that the contract language was uniform between them. According to Solomon, the school committee did attempt to get the issue on the December council agenda; the WTU needs to answer for its part in the delay.