The study is available as an Adobe Acrobat file (*.pdf) on the EIA web site. Go to the Reports page at http://www.eiaonline.com to view or download for printing. For those who prefer it, I will e-mail the report as an Acrobat attachment to you upon request.

2) Bad Week for NEA Opponents. If your organization was involved in a court case or an administrative hearing with the National Education Association or its affiliates, last week was one you would like to forget as soon as possible:

* In Oregon, a civil jury awarded NEA and AFT affiliates in the state more than $840,000 from the coffers of Bill Sizemore and his organization, Oregon Taxpayers United (OTU). The jury found that false campaign financial reports and filings for two initiatives placed on the state ballot by OTU caused the unions damage. The amount awarded to the Oregon Education Association and AFT Oregon is meant to compensate them for their campaign spending in battling the initiatives. A judge will decide whether to triple the award under the state’s racketeering laws.

* In Washington State, a judge awarded attorney’s fees to NEA over the reversal of a default judgment lodged against the union in a case brought by the Evergreen Freedom Foundation.

* Also in Washington, the state Public Disclosure Commission announced it is not enforcing laws against using public funds or facilities for campaign purposes. The commission’s decision is a response to a broad superior court ruling in a case filed by the Washington Education Association. Judge Richard McDermott ruled that only classrooms are off-limits to campaign literature distribution and that school mailboxes and district e-mail can be used for political purposes, as long as they do not contain specific endorsements.

* The Landmark Legal Foundation responded publicly to the Federal Elections Commission decision not to pursue an investigation into NEA’s campaign spending. According to Landmark, the FEC decision was based on the volume of the commission’s workload, and not the substance of the complaint. The foundation called on NEA to release the tax returns for its political action committee.

3) Labor Board Calls for Representation Election in Las Vegas. After two days of hearings, the State of Nevada Local Government Employee-Management Relations Board ordered a representation election to be held to determine the union for educational support employees of the Clark County School District. Approximately 7,300 employees are currently represented by the NEA-affiliated Education Support Employees Association (ESEA). The challenging union is the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 14. The election’s details will be hammered out by tomorrow and the election itself must be held before October 24.

By all accounts, the board’s quick decision caught ESEA and NEA by surprise. A Teamsters victory would mean a $1 million annual revenue loss to NEA and a devastating 33 percent membership loss for the Nevada State Education Association. NEA has already put out a distress call to its state affiliates in an attempt to bring in volunteer UniServ directors with ESP experience for the campaign. Most UniServ directors, however, are busy with state political campaigns so mustering enough troops will be problematic.

The election will be by secret ballot, with 50 percent + 1 of the votes cast being necessary for victory. EIA will provide full details as the campaign proceeds.

4) Next Representation Battle May Be in Nashville. EIA has previously reported on the woes of the Metropolitan Nashville Education Association (MNEA). Now the spark may be fanned into a flame. The Tennessean, Nashville’s daily newspaper, reported this morning that there may be a challenge to the union’s exclusive bargaining status. State law allows a petition for a representation election during October if the union’s membership falls below 50 percent of the eligible bargaining unit. The last verifiable membership numbers from two years ago showed MNEA at 57.5 percent. Anecdotal evidence suggests the percentage has fallen rather than risen since then.

Even so, the hurdles are high. A petition would require the signatures of 30 percent of the eligible electorate, or about 1,700 teachers. The only alternative organization is the Professional Educators of Nashville (PEN), which claims 500 members. PEN is affiliated with the Professional Educators of Tennessee, which has 4,100 members statewide. "We could challenge MNEA as the representative body if (members) wanted to," said PEN President William B. Gemmill. "I think there’s a good chance."

5) Why "No Strike" Laws Are a Waste of Paper. Traditionally, in order to overcome opposition to the establishment of collective bargaining laws, unions have often agreed to include provisions that make teacher strikes illegal, subject to heavy sanctions including fines and imprisonment. These provisions may act as a psychological deterrent to teachers contemplating a strike vote, but the difficulties of enforcement make the whole exercise pointless.

Teachers in the Issaquah School District in Washington reached a last-minute contract agreement last week that defused a showdown between the teachers’ union and the county superior court. Judge Joan DuBuque issued a back-to-work order that teachers voted to defy by a more than 2 to 1 margin. The briefing Issaquah teachers received on the consequences of their decision by a Washington Education Association attorney illustrates why "no strike" laws are no guarantee of anything.

According to the Seattle Times, WEA lawyer Kathy O’Toole informed teachers they could be sent to jail, but that "the judge’s calendar is not big enough to hold 850 contempt hearings." Besides, she said, the jails themselves are overcrowded. "They are not going to put 850 of you away," she said. O’Toole told them they could be fined, but also that "no teacher has ever paid a fine in the 18 years I have been with the Washington Education Association."

Asked if teachers could be fired for not appearing for work, O’Toole said that the district would not undertake hundreds of discharge hearings because they can cost up to $80,000 each. Besides, Issaquah Education Association President Kathy Linderman told them, the burden was on the court to prove that individual teachers were defying the order. "Linderman said teachers could say they were sick, or that a parent was sick," reported the Times. "The district can’t prove otherwise."

The message was clear. While the school district and the court had a host of remedies on paper, as a practical matter they would not fine, jail, fire, discipline, or even investigate teachers who defied the court order. Should a district overcome its qualms, as happened in Middletown, New Jersey, it faces the prospect of forever being known as the folks who jailed hundreds of weeping members of the community.

6) Another Democratic Governor at Odds with Union. The list of states where NEA affiliates are somewhat disenchanted with the Democrat governors they supported continues to grow. Last week New Jersey joined the crowd when its NEA affiliate criticized an education reform agenda introduced by Gov. James McGreevey. "He makes wonderful speeches," New Jersey Education Association President Edithe Fulton told the Associated Press, "but what we need is some finality and some delivery." NJEA dislikes McGreevey’s plan for teaching standards and claims professional development programs are underfunded.

It is very unlikely that the union and McGreevey will go separate ways. NJEA wants a Democrat in the governor’s chair and McGreevey wants the union’s manpower and political funds. But now New Jersey can commiserate with California, Georgia, Hawaii, Missouri and Washington -- all states where the reality of having a union-supported Democratic governor fell short of expectations.

7) News Briefs from Ohio, Hawaii and California. The Ohio Education Association has approved the disaffiliation of the Columbus Education Association from its regional parent, the Central OEA, and has established a brand new district for the local union. The new regional affiliate will be called the Capital District and will consist of the 5,400-member Columbus union and no other local. The new arrangement will give Columbus more resources and clout at the state level, but it is unclear whether there will be ripple effects throughout the union.

* The Hawaii State Teachers Association reached a contract agreement with its staff union. Details were unavailable.

* The California Teachers Association (CTA) was an early and vocal supporter of Proposition 49, the After School Education and Safety Act, being carried by actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The ballot measure would establish after-school programs and guarantee state funding for them. Last week, the California Federation of Teachers (CFT) announced it would oppose the measure, saying the initiative would be just another unfunded mandate. "No one but they think the math works," said CFT President Mary Bergan. The split decision on Prop 49 will cause additional confusion in teacher union locals in San Francisco and Los Angeles, which are affiliated with both CTA and CFT.