DETROIT – Detroit Federation of Teachers President Steve Conn said hundreds of teachers did not get paid this week while other members received checks short hundreds of dollars.
Conn said this is not a new problem.
"We need something that will affectively, regularly pay the teachers what they're owed. They do the work. They need the pay. They need it on-time, with bills to pay. All they get now is a runaround," he said.
A spokesperson for Detroit Public Schools said a variety of issues are to blame for the payroll problems this week.
"We have met with the Coalition of Unions and are working towards resolving any payroll issues as quickly as possible for their members. We are confident that that we will resolve all of the existing issues, which are an extremely rare occurrence, between today and Friday," a statement from the school district reads.
The union president said it's difficult to tell his members to remain patient.
"The teachers and the union are determined to stand their ground fight for this, fight for their working lives, and above all for the young people of this community to have quality schools. They need teachers, but to have teacher the teachers need to be paid," said Conn.