Boston Teachers Union votes against a strike

The Boston Teachers Union voted not to strike the city's public school system despite massive layoffs it claimed were in violation of its contract. The 6,500 -member union rejected recommendations of its president and executive board by refusing to carry out a threat to strike over the firing of the teachers, 710 of whom were tenured. The union maintained that the layoffs violated its contract, regardless of the lack of funds available to the fiscally shaky school department.