Union Files Suit Over Teacher Layoffs

WASHINGTON, D.C. - More than 200 D.C. school teachers who were recently laid off are fighting back. They went to a union meeting on Wednesday afternoon where they found out that a lawsuit has now been filed against the city.

The head of the Washington Teachers' Union, George Parker, told the laid-off teachers he is filing a lawsuit against the city, but what's in the lawsuit and what he is asking for is still unclear.

The teachers FOX 5 talked to going into the meeting said they are hoping for an injunction and a better explanation on why they lost their jobs.

Just before 2 p.m. Wednesday, dozens of laid-off teachers began arriving at the AME Church on M Street in hopes of hearing some good news. Marsha Karim, a union shop steward at Eastern High School, said she was hoping to hear the union had won a court injunction. She wants to keep her job and thinks she was singled out.

"I was targeted," said Karim. "I know I was targeted, yes."

Karim says the other teachers fired from Eastern also had union connections.

What upsets the teachers who were laid off perhaps more than anything is the reasons why.

Since the layoffs, students have marched down to city hall in protest. D.C. City Councilman Marion Barry has called for an investigation by the inspector general, and schools chancellor Michelle Rhee has gone on a PR round of interviews to explain the actions.