Richmond Educators First to Break Through on Contract Negotiations
2022年2月15日
2022年2月15日
汤姆·艾伦
No one really knows who originated the old adage, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Over the years, it’s been attributed to Benjamin Franklin, Winston Churchill, and others.
Maybe it should now be credited to members of the Richmond Education Association, 谁把它放在心上, 通过周密的计划, blazed a trail for their colleagues to follow. 这是历史性的突破, REA is the first VEA affiliate to convince their school board, 根据弗吉尼亚的新议价法, 通过一项决议，为学校员工和学校部门之间的凤凰体育app买球平台铺平道路.
Months before the General Assembly even began considering the bargaining law, REA members were mobilizing to make sure negotiations became a reality. They built momentum by circulating information about what a new law might mean for schools, 学生, 和教育工作者, gauging interest among their colleagues, 举行介绍性会议.
Educators in Virginia’s capital city began to jump aboard. 安德里亚·邓吉, a math interventionist and assistant testing coordinator at Oak Grove Elementary School, getting involved in the effort was an intensely personal issue. “Both my 父母 were educators,” she says, “and I watched them bring work home every day. They just didn’t have time to complete it during their regular school hours. 经常, 他们被召集参加会议，或者被委派额外的任务，这使他们无法在上学期间完成任务. 我知道，当我想要得到父母的关注，却因为他们要工作或者已经完全被工作弄得筋疲力尽而得不到时，我的感受是什么. They could not say, ‘No, I have other tasks to do’ and were expected to take on additional work. I’m a parent now and I don’t want my child to experience me bringing home my work, sacrificing time or being completely drained, 但不幸的是确实如此. I want collective bargaining so that families can enjoy each other.”
As interest built among the city’s educators, 由REA总裁卡蒂娜·哈里斯领导, 达雷尔·特纳副总统, 以及UniServ主任Boaz Young-El, union members crafted long-term campaign plans, 完成时间轴, 策略, 角色和职责.
“We knew it would be a marathon, not a sprint,” says Young-El.
一个核心小组挺身而出，开始召开会议，这样其他成员就可以培养他们所需要的技能，既能赢得讨价还价的权利，又能有效地为学生和学校员工做到这一点. 委员会开始开会, 从沟通到活动策划，再到获得必要的授权卡签名. REA members made school visits to provide accurate information, reached out to school board members and other leaders, 举行集会.
“Collective bargaining is an equalizer when dealing with the issues we face,” says Turner. “多年来, educators here have dealt with poor working conditions, such as crumbling buildings and inconsistent policies, but there’s been a pervasive fear of reprisal for speaking out about our concerns. 这场胜利将说明，教育工作者对工作条件的满意度如何对我们所服务的学生产生积极影响——这就是为什么我们如此努力地使凤凰体育买球成为现实.”
Young-El指出，凤凰体育app买球平台最容易衡量的影响之一是提高了整个学校部门的教师留任率, 梅尔文·霍斯特曼, a social studies teacher at Huguenot High School, 欢迎.
“Teacher retention is a pressing issue here,霍斯特曼说。, 谁注意到他在学校已经四年了，已经被认为是一名资深教师. “The main reason for teachers leaving isn’t the kids and it isn’t the 父母, 问题是在课堂上缺乏自主权，在学区的决策过程中缺乏发言权. We don’t even have clearly delineated job responsibilities, leaving teachers subject to the whims of administration. Collective bargaining will change this issue. My hope is that it will also help improve teacher retention in Richmond.”
Dungee agrees that bargaining would help clarify important issues. “That ‘other duties assigned’ phrase in our contract can be spelled out,” she says. 这将允许教育工作者说 no. It would help with equality in the work environment by having accountability on every p艺术y. I want to help stop teacher burnout which collective bargaining can help assist with.”
对REA的成员来说，最重要的是谈判创造的机会，让他们得到专业教育工作者早就应该得到的待遇，自从20世纪70年代弗吉尼亚州宣布公共雇员凤凰体育买球为非法以来，这种待遇一直被忽视.
“想想我们投入的所有时间, 我们所有的学位, 我们所有的经验,中学教师、REA成员佩吉·埃尔旺格在去年秋天的一次会议上对该市的学校董事会说. “All we’re asking for is a seat at the table so we can all work together.”
Hostman也有同感. “每年学区做出的政策决定对实际执行这些政策的教师来说完全没有意义,他说. “40多年来，里士满的教育工作者在他们的就业条件上没有发言权. Collective bargaining is the best way to begin to change this.”
参加会议对里士满的教育工作者来说也是一个分享他们的专业知识的机会，这对学生的成就至关重要. Before bargaining was banned in Virginia, 当地人通过谈判来加强教学，包括创建小班, 制定更好的校历, modifying student discipline and safety policies, 引进更多的专业人士, 比如护士, 辅导员, 和阅读, 艺术, 音乐老师.
以下是REA在竞选期间的一份声明:“我们的合同不仅仅是凤凰体育买球的工资多少或工作时间——我们的合同还涉及学生的学习条件. By building strong relations with 学生, 父母, 以及社区伙伴, REA打算利用凤凰体育买球的过程来解决我们城市长期存在的教育需求和社会不公.”
Contract negotiations are not a done deal for REA members yet, 虽然, even after the school board’s action. 最后的步骤包括获得足够的由学校员工签名的授权卡，以触发选举来选择谈判代理人, 然后REA必须赢得选举, which should be a formality as it’s the organization that made negotiations possible.
Allen is editor of the 弗吉尼亚教育杂志.
While Richmond educators were the first to break through on bargaining rights, other VEA locals are also hard at work. Here’s a sampling of some of the contract negotiations activity around the commonwealth:
Charlottesville Education Association. 该市的学校董事会已公开表示支持谈判过程. 在一月份的会议上, CEA主席杰西卡·泰勒和主管罗亚尔·格利站在一起，要求推进这一进程. 据当地媒体报道，董事会成员拉什德拉·布莱森·莫斯伯格在会议上对教育工作者说:“你现在确实让我们的孩子们免受病毒和枪支暴力的威胁. I think that you’re owed the respect of having a formal voice at the table.“Taylor和UniServ董事Bekah Saxon已被要求在下次董事会会议上做一个信息介绍，CEA已开始收集授权卡签名.
林奇堡教育协会. LEA通过在该市的学校董事会会议上发表演讲，建立了讨价还价的势头. LEA President Karl Loos also had a letter to the editor published in December that said, 在某种程度上, 通过凤凰体育买球, 影响孩子学习的决定是由对孩子学习影响最大的人做出的:受过教育的专家, 许可, and professionally trained to handle their unique position within the division. Collective bargaining allows employees to feel empowered and valued. It makes them love their jobs even more.”
Montgomery County Education Association. MCEA, which has now had authorization cards signed by a majority of 许可 employees, 1月初正式向县学校董事会提交了一份支持凤凰体育买球的决议，并要求他们通过.
In his remarks, MCEA President Glen Chilcote told the board, “This is a historic day. 几十年来，公共部门的员工一直被剥夺这一权利……MCPS的员工现在有一个独特的机会与您合作，使我们的学生的学习条件达到最好……凤凰体育买球凤凰体育买球，我想消除一些误解. 首先，许多人认为谈判合同的能力包括罢工. 这是错误的. Striking is illegal in Virginia and something our organization is against. 其次, some individuals will say that the costs associated with collective bargaining are astronomical. 再一次，这是错误的. Collective bargaining requires no extra personnel. 凤凰体育买球仅仅是与你和你的代表见面的能力，通过我们共同的愿景创造一个环境，让学生能够充分发挥他们的潜力.”
威廉王子教育协会. PWEA成员通过在该县94所学校的教育工作者手中收集授权卡上的签名，开始了他们的谈判努力. 威廉王子郡监事委员会已经投票决定开始制定一项法令，开始与郡工人进行凤凰体育app买球平台.
Teacher shortages are a serious issue across the country. Here in Virginia, there are currently over 3648个教学职位空缺. (FY23)
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