Merrick Academy workers get boot via FedEx amid contract dispute between school, union

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A scandal-plagued Queens charter school fired at least nine teachers Tuesday - via FedEx, union officials said.

Some of the Merrick Academy staffers who got the boot are chalking it up to a bitter contract dispute between the school and unionized teachers.

"If the board of the Merrick charter school is firing teachers because of union activity, then we're going to take all legal action against them," said United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew.

Teachers at the Queens Village school voted to unionize in 2008 but they haven't reached a contract with the school's board.

Gerald Karikari, chairman of Merrick's Board of Trustees, would not say how many teachers were fired and denied the layoffs were retaliatory. "At the end of the year, every teacher is evaluated on the way they performed," he said.

More ... http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2010/07/21/2010-07-21_disunion_as_9_teachers_fired.html