2,000 Philly school workers have authorized a strike. What does it mean?

City and state officials have called on the Philadelphia School District to settle a contract with 2,000 bus drivers, cleaners, and trades workers — employees who have authorized their union to call a strike if no deal is reached by Aug. 31.

Members of 32BJ SEIU District 1201 took the vote last weekend. District and union officials negotiated Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, but no deal has been reached.

In letters sent by a majority of members of City Council and several local members of the Pennsylvania Senate, Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. was urged to get a deal done.

» READ MORE: Philly school bus drivers, maintenance workers vote to authorize a strike

“As elected leaders of Philadelphia, we are calling ... ,” 15 members of City Council and seven members of the state Senate wrote in identical letters sent Tuesday. “The majority of these workers live in Philadelphia, graduated from Philadelphia’s public schools and have sent their own children to our schools. They have shown their commitment to our schools through their hard work and the sacrifices they have made.”

Here are some commonly asked questions and answers about the negotiations:

No. Members have authorized a strike, but no strike has been called. The strike authorization gives union leaders the authority to call a strike if no deal is reached by Wednesday and they deem it the best course of action.

The union represents bus drivers, bus attendants, bus mechanics, building cleaners, building engineers, and trades workers. Their salaries range from about $16,000 for the lowest-paid cleaners to nearly $70,000 for construction inspectors.

That’s not clear. Many bus routes are contracted out and do not use district-employed drivers; those would not be affected. But many critical school functions would be affected, from school building operations to classroom cleanliness. The district’s trades workers are painters, bricklayers, mechanics, fields caretakers, plumbers, HVAC technicians, asbestos workers, pest-control technicians, and more.

Salary, safety, and training are the main sticking points. Elected officials said the district must make sure workers are paid “family-sustaining wages,” the officials said in the letters.

“These essential workers maintain they are underpaid and undertrained to accomplish their critical work,” the elected officials wrote to Watlington. “They believe they haven’t been adequately trained to mitigate asbestos, de-escalate dangerous situations, or respond to an active shooter situation. Even worse, they are making between $2 and $3 below what comparable city employees make. These are unacceptable working conditions, especially for a workforce that is sometimes called upon to act as first responders.”

Watlington said at a news conference this week he was “hopeful” a deal would be reached.

“We value all the employees of 32BJ. I certainly do, as formerly being a bus driver and a custodian,” the superintendent said. “We’re optimistic that we’re going to reach an appropriate conclusion in advance of the school year.”