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1) Pennsylvania NEA Affiliate Faces
Multi-Million Dollar Deficit. Officials of the
Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) claim that without staff
concessions at the bargaining table, the union will be facing a budget
deficit of up to $14.5 million. PSEA is yet another NEA state affiliate with
financial difficulties despite a growing membership.
Union management blames employee benefit
plans, particularly for retirees, for PSEA’s monetary woes, but staffers
counter that the poor performance of the union’s investment portfolio is the
cause of the problems.
Relations between union management and
staff have become more contentious ever since a tentative agreement was
rejected by a vote of the staff during the summer. In response to that
rejection, PSEA reduced the contract length from six to five years and
addressed other staff concerns, but at the same time rescinded some
previously agreed-upon provisions and presented a “Last, Best and Final
Offer” to the staff union on September 17. Additionally, PSEA executives
made a commitment not to spend more than half of the union’s total budget on
staff salary and benefits.
The PSEA staff union charged management
with becoming “another employer demanding severe cuts in health insurance
benefits, regressive contract language, and multiple tier benefit clauses.”
The staff union’s efforts to gain support from the rank-and-file has borne
some fruit, as two of PSEA’s regional committees have voted to condemn
PSEA’s bargaining strategies.
On September 30, PSEA management
presented a slightly revised “Last, Best and Final Offer,” giving the staff
union until the close of business this Friday, October 17, to approve it or
submit to binding arbitration. One source claims PSEA is already arranging
for additional security in preparation for a lockout. On October 1, the
staff union offered its own counter-proposal, but PSEA would not consider
it.
There is still plenty of opportunity for
the contract to be settled, but don’t be surprised if next Monday begins
with a lockout, picket lines, and all sorts of other entertaining events at
PSEA headquarters in Harrisburg.
2) California Teachers Association
to Target Charters. Back on April 14, 2003, EIA
warned that the California Teachers Association (CTA) was planning to start
organizing in charter schools across the state. Now, not only are we seeing
the first evidence of that campaign, but of NEA involvement in its funding.
The October issue of California
Educator, CTA’s monthly organ, contains four articles about charter
schools with tendentious headlines such as “Do Charter Schools Get Too Much
Latitude?” “Charters Can Reduce Funding for Other Schools,” and “Without
Union Protection, Teachers Are Vulnerable.”
The latter article illustrates CTA’s
likely organizing strategy. It contains horror stories from an employee of
the California Charter Academy, which not so coincidentally runs 68 of the
state’s approximately 480 charter schools, making it by far the largest
charter operator in California. Evidence from other states indicates that
only large charter schools are worth the financial outlay for union
organizing. But once the large schools and charter operations are unionized,
no doubt CTA would orchestrate another legislative effort to make union
representation mandatory in all charters statewide. A 1999 attempt was
defeated, largely due to efforts of Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown.
Last week, the NEA Board of Directors
approved $250,000 in funding for the CTA charter project, with the
stipulation that lessons learned would be provided to other NEA state
affiliates contemplating similar projects.
EIA predicts that CTA staffers will soon
be making personal appearances at California Charter Academy campuses, as
well as other large charter schools. And while CTA’s ability to stir up
discontent should not be underestimated, the union has a tough row to hoe.
For one thing, organizers might find
themselves having to describe the debacle at the union’s own charter school,
Kwachiiyoa, which was recently denied renewal due to poor performance (see
the August 4, 2003 EIA Communiqué). They might also find themselves
disavowing a charter school study conducted for NEA in 1998 by Julia Koppich,
who reported that charter school teachers relished the flexibility of
charter schools. “Even those with lower salaries feel they are compensated
for by professional freedom,” she said. Even more importantly, Koppich found
that charter school teachers have little interest in union membership. “To
teachers at charter schools, unions and associations don’t have much of a
place in their professional lives,” Koppich told Education Week.
3) Alaska Local May Leave NEA.
Representatives of the Kenai Peninsula Education Association (KPEA) approved
a proposal that would allow the rank-and-file membership to decide whether
to remain affiliated with NEA or go independent.
KPEA represents about 600 district
teachers. The disassociation proposal was prompted by unhappiness with
agency fees and the feeling that the state and national affiliates had
little interest in the local. The full membership vote was approved by a
large majority of the KPEA representative assembly on Saturday, but the
campaign and vote is expected to take several months. EIA expects an army of
UniServ directors from across the country to start packing their mukluks
very soon.
4) National Unions to Fund
Organizing in Miami. The NEA Board of Directors
approved a $200,000 outlay to help fund a joint organizing project with AFT
in Miami-Dade County. AFT will add an undisclosed amount.
The United Teachers of Dade (UTD) was
hemorrhaging members even before the Tornillo scandal broke in April, and
some claim more than 60 percent of the bargaining unit are not UTD members.
Additionally, UTD’s financial troubles go well beyond the money
misappropriated by Tornillo. Even with staff and salary cuts and AFT
subsidies, the union still owes large amounts in back dues and bank loans.
5) DC Teachers’ Union Environment
All Too Familiar. Former Washington Teachers Union
President Barbara Bullock pleaded guilty to mail fraud and conspiracy last
week and faces a 10-year prison sentence. It bears repeating that wholesale
thievery of dues is a relatively rare occurrence in teachers’ unions. What
is common, unfortunately, is an environment that treats dissent as betrayal,
leading to omerta – a code of silence – when it comes to questionable
activities by those in charge.
Justin Blum of the Washington Post
wrote a laudable piece last week on how Bullock ran her union (still online
at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53313-2003Oct6.html). One
site representative described what would happen when he would ask questions
about union finances. “Bullock scowled at him and rebuked him for being
‘negative,’” the rep told the Post, “and he drew cold stares from
others in the room. He felt he had been embarrassed into submission. ‘I just
shut up,’ he said. ‘You feel internally like somebody put you down. You feel
ashamed. You just feel like you don’t want to pursue it. It’s not worth
it.’”
Another activist described how Bullock’s
supporters would suddenly leave the room when sensitive issues were brought
up. Bullock would then declare a lack of a quorum and adjourn the meeting.
Tactics like these are as much warning
signs as any suspicious credit card receipt would be. A little less
uniformity of thought might have prevented the Washington and Miami scandals
altogether.
6) Hortonville Update.
The Hortonville Board of Education voted unanimously to recognize the
Wisconsin Federation of Teachers as the exclusive representative of
Hortonville’s 215 teachers. The teachers have been routinely denied
affiliation with the NEA-affiliated Wisconsin Education Association Council
as long as replacement teachers from a 1974 strike still work there.
Although Hortonville is a relatively
small district, the board’s decision boosted WFT’s active K-12 teacher
membership by about 8 percent.
7) EIA to Take Short Break.
There will be no EIA Communiqué for the next two weeks. The next
issue will be published on Monday, November 3.
8) Quote of
the Week.
“We expect parents to work in the best interest of the kids. We’re working
in the best interest of the teachers.”– Hudson Education Association
President David Spohn. (October 9 Akron Beacon Journal) |
