I'm sure Mike Bloomberg will catch some flak for not being tough enough, but you gotta pick your battles and I suspect it's better to make peace with the teachers now so that he can focus on the ongoing battle royale with the principals' union...

The Bloomberg administration and the New York City teachers’ union reached a tentative deal last night on a contract that would increase pay by 7.1 percent over two years and essentially forge a peace agreement between Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the union from now through the end of his term in 2009.

The surprisingly early agreement will, for the first time, lift base pay for the most senior teachers above $100,000 a year, an important and symbolic threshold that brings salaries for city educators closer to those in the suburbs.

The agreement, announced late last night by the mayor and the union president, Randi Weingarten, comes 11 months before the current contract expires, in October 2007. It contrasts starkly with the city’s failed efforts to reach an accord with school supervisors, including principals, whose contract expired on June 30, 2003.

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November 7, 2006

City in Tentative Deal With Teachers’ Union

By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN

The Bloomberg administration and the New York City teachers’ union reached a tentative deal last night on a contract that would increase pay by 7.1 percent over two years and essentially forge a peace agreement between Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the union from now through the end of his term in 2009.