The D.C. Council conducted its first legislative meeting of Council Period 26 on the tail end of a winter storm that closed District schools, and compelled most council members to participate virtually as they tackle the unfinished business of the previous council period.
In less than an hour, the council, which now includes D.C. Councilmember Wendell Felder (D-Ward 7), approved a short list of measures. They include the Washington Teachers’ Union’s five-year contract with D.C. Public Schools; Jed Ross and Dr. Unique N. Morris-Hughes’ appointment to the board of D.C. Water and Sewer Authority; and the extension of a law that prevented steep inflation of the District’s rent-controlled units.
Read this edition of The Collins Council Report for more.
Council Approves WTU Contract, Celebrates Crucial Milestone
On Jan. 7, the council unanimously approved the Working Conditions and Compensation Agreement between the District of Columbia Public Schools and the Washington Teachers’ Union, Local #6 of the American Federation of Teachers Approval Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2025.
This emergency bill, introduced by D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) on behalf of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D), puts into motion the collective bargaining agreement that the Washington Teachers’ Union (WTU) reached with D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) last year.
Last fall, to the amazement of those who remember protracted negotiations of the past, WTU and DCPS solidified the collective bargaining agreement one year after the expiration of a retroactive contract, and 10 months after contract negotiations started. The goodwill continued on Dec. 20, when no one testified in opposition to the contract during a joint committee roundtable that Mendelson and D.C. Councilmember Anita Bonds (D-At Large) conducted.
On Jan. 7, Bonds, chair of the council’s Committee of Executive Administration and Labor, said the finalized contract, ratified with 96% of the union vote, reflected an endeavor to improve work conditions for public school teachers. Provisions include a wage increase of 12% over the life of the contract, an increase in optical and dental benefits, and expansion of planning time for special education teachers and teachers of English language learners.
This contract covers five years, whereas previous contracts carried a three-year term. In total, the District will spend $52.1 million during fiscal year 2025, and nearly $239 million through fiscal year 2028, according to the Office of the Chief Financial Officer.
Bonds called it a worthy investment.
“This agreement has produced an equitable contract that thoroughly addresses both working conditions and compensation,” she told her colleagues on the afternoon of Jan. 7.
As she explained the bigger picture, Bonds gave kudos to all parties involved — including D.C. Office of Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining — as she extolled provisions like a “super-teacher” category for elementary school teachers and the formation of a joint grievance committee as viable means of attracting and retaining quality teachers.
“It recognizes … giving attention to daily operating needs and holistic well-being,” Bonds told her colleagues. “It provides maternity and paternity leave provisions that demonstrate the commitment to rectifying matters of teacher retention, staffing shortages, and challenging workloads.”
Thus ends a journey that started more than a year ago, when the D.C. Council, at the end of the retroactive contract negotiations, implored WTU and DCPS to work more quickly and collegially in the next go-round.
This negotiation cycle, though short, came with a few hurdles that required Mendelson and Bonds’ presence. That included labor board complaints levied against the teachers’ union and periods when, according to union members, DCPS Chancellor Lewis D. Ferebee didn’t physically make it to the bargaining table.
D.C. Councilmember Robert White (D-At-large), in his third term after an election where WTU endorsed him, acknowledged the work of union members who protested, even after long days in the classroom, in support of a quickly solidified contract.
“This five-year contract is a testament to the commitment of our teachers, the administration and the council to ensure stability for our students in our schools,” said At-large Councilmember White, father of two DCPS students. “I know how important it is to take care of our teachers, so they take care of our babies. We cannot educate our babies without our teachers.”
D.C. Councilmember Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4), mother of a months-old baby boy, echoed At large Councilmember White’s sentiments, telling her colleagues that the new contract ultimately benefits District students who are struggling to connect with school.
“The progress we’re making toward fair compensation and benefits make it more likely that we can recruit and retain highly-skilled educators with identities that reflect ours, and are dedicated to holistically teaching students as they grow,” she said.
For D.C. Councilmember Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5), the newly approved teacher union contract presents a chance to give District public school teachers what they need to help students excel academically.
“This agreement is about supporting teachers holistically,” said Parker, a former D.C. State Board of Education representative. “We know a contract is … about a healthy environment and robust support system. I’m glad to see a contract that moves in that direction.”
Dr. Unique N. Morris-Hughes to Advance Workforce Development Goals as D.C. Water Board Member
Shortly before the council discussed the teachers’ contract, they unanimously approved Bowser’s nomination of Jed Ross and Dr. Unique N. Morris-Hughes as principal members of D.C. Water and Sewage Authority’s board of directors.
D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen (D-Ward 6), chair of the council’s Committee on Transportation and the Environment, successfully shepherded the nomination, as recommended by his committee, while securing the approval of a motion to waive the filing deadline of Dec. 23, 2024.
“I was impressed with both candidates during our roundtables and their nominations,” Allen said on Jan. 7. “Based on their background, experience and testimony, the Committee on Transportation & the Environment voted unanimously to advance their nominations to the council, and I urge my colleagues to support their confirmations.”
In total, D.C. Water’s board of directors has 11 principal members and 11 alternate members. Six of those principal and alternate members, including the chair, are appointed by Bowser with council approval. As for other principal and alternate board members representing surrounding counties, Bowser makes those appointments in consultation with her executive counterparts from those jurisdictions.
Ross, chief risk officer in the District’s Office of Risk Management, and Morris-Hughes, director of D.C. Department of Employment Services (DOES), will serve out the remainder of a four-year term that ends in 2027.
They, along with other principal and alternate board members, will weigh in on policy that affects the management of D.C. Water’s joint-use facilities. While Ross extends his stay on the body where he started as an alternate member, Morris-Hughes will serve as board member for the first time.
This presents a unique opportunity (no pun intended) for a D.C. government veteran like Morris-Hughes to advance her workforce development goals while serving as a D.C. Water board member. In her testimony before the council’s Committee on Transportation & Environment last year, Morris-Hughes noted that, under her leadership, D.C. Water utilized the D.C. Infrastructure Academy (DCIA), a DOES program, to train thousands of Washingtonians, including those who joined the utility’s apprenticeship program.
Enrollees include the first-ever woman to work in D.C. Water’s pumping division.
Since its 2018 inception, DCIA, currently housed in the former Spingarn High School, has trained more than 4,600 D.C. residents for careers in infrastructure development. Unskilled and underskilled District residents who enroll in the academy participate in skills training in the utility, energy efficiency, transportation, and information technology industries.
DOES facilitates this program in collaboration with numerous private and public sector entities, including D.C. Water.
DOES and D.C. Water have also partnered around Lead-Free D.C. Community Activators Program, which trained District residents in community outreach in support of Lead Free DC and achieved an 80% participation rate in lead service line replacements.
As Morris-Hughes continues to identify lead service line replacements, along with secondary water-source planning and D.C. Water’s fiscal management, as issues of note, D.C. residents in search of economic uplift might have more opportunities to build their city, and make a living while doing so.
Morris-Hughes said just as much in a statement to The Informer about her recent appointment.
“I will leverage my expertise in workforce development and strategic leadership to support vital water infrastructure and create meaningful opportunities for D.C residents,” Morris-Hughes said. “Clean water, community engagement, and access to good jobs are powerful tools to disrupt poverty and advance environmental justice.”
Morris-Hughes ended her statement acknowledging who she called the true stakeholders.
“You won’t find anywhere else in the world where people from the community are leading and working to improve a water utility system like they are here in D.C.,” she said. “It’s why I am excited to stand alongside DC Water’s 1,300 employees and its leadership as we embark on the years ahead, working together to ensure a stronger, more equitable future for all.”
The Council Continues Protection against Inflation for Tenants of the District’s Rent-Controlled Units
During the summer of 2023, the council passed legislation preventing what would’ve been an inflationary increase of up to 18% for the District’s rent-controlled units. On Jan. 7, the council returned to this issue as it, once again, unanimously approved an emergency bill that extends those protections until April 30, as originally intended.
The bill, titled the Rent Stabilized Housing Inflation Protection Continuation Emergency Amendment Act of 2025, was introduced by At-Large Councilmember White, chair of the council’s Committee on Housing. During his third council swearing-in ceremony on Jan. 2, White demanded of his colleagues what he called a bold vision to help D.C.’s lowest earning residents.
While he didn’t speak to that as much on Jan. 7, he did take them back to a precarious time in tenant-landlord relations.
“Tenants voiced serious concerns about displacement while landlords highlighted that rising costs were necessary to maintain their buildings,” At large Councilmember White said. “We had to act to address these challenges,” he continued. “We maintained the same benefits, and it doesn’t otherwise change the law at all.”