Teacher Strike Keeps Schools Shut in Detroit

DETROIT, Sept. 11 -- Thousands of striking Detroit teachers defied a judge's order to return to work Monday as school officials and the union resumed contract talks in the two-week dispute.

Circuit Judge Susan Borman on Friday ordered the 7,000 teachers to go back to work Monday, but district spokesman Lekan Oguntoyinbo said the overwhelming majority remained off the job.

The district had hoped to use Monday as a planning day before the 130,000 students returned to class Tuesday. Superintendent William F. Coleman III said there will be no school until he is sure teachers will be in the classrooms.

Oguntoyinbo said lawyers will go back in court Tuesday to ask the judge to "enforce our rights." State law allows for fines and other penalties against employees who ignore a back-to-work order, but Oguntoyinbo would not say what action the district would seek.

Janna K. Garrison, president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, said individual teachers are free to decide whether to work or strike.

"We're not just fighting for ourselves. We're fighting for our students," she told reporters.

The two sides resumed talks Monday after a one-day break but adjourned in the afternoon with no date set to return, said union spokeswoman Michelle Price.

The walkout began Aug. 28 after teachers rejected a two-year contract that would have cut pay by 5.5 percent and increased co-payments for health care. The district has sought nearly $89 million in concessions from the union to help close a $105 million deficit in its $1.36 billion budget for the fiscal year.