Washington Substitute Teachers United (WSTU) has submitted a petition asking that DCPS substitute teachers be included in the WTU bargaining unit. The substitutes have not received a pay raise since 2008 and are paid $15 an hour with no benefits, due process rights or access to professional development programs. Their petition -- signed by nearly 150 teachers -- says, in part: “We are professionals and we deserve to be paid what we are worth. We the undersigned substitute teachers demand that DCPS raise our pay and respect our right to organize a union.” The WTU is working closely with the substitutes to determine “the quickest, most efficient way” to bring them into the WTU bargaining unit.