Employees of Independence School District
seek to overturn Supreme Court cases prohibiting collective bargaining rights for public employees

The Jackson County Circuit Court has ruled that the Independence School District rescinded agreements with associations representing District bus drivers, custodians, and teachers without bargaining with the associations or obtaining their consent. The Court’s July 17, 2006 decision concluded, however, that the District’s conduct was not unlawful because of 1947 and 1982 decisions of the Missouri Supreme Court holding that public employees do not have collective bargaining rights under the Missouri Constitution.

The associations will appeal the decision and request that the Missouri Supreme Court overturn its 1947 Springfield v. Clouse and 1982 Sumpter v. City of Moberly decisions, which stand as roadblocks to more meaningful public employee bargaining rights. Only the Supreme Court has the power to overturn its previous rulings. The Circuit Court’s decision came in a lawsuit brought by Independence employee associations affiliated with the Missouri National Education Association (“MNEA”) in 2003 in response to the District’s repudiation of existing bargaining agreements.

The associations’ appeal of the July 17th decision will be the second pursed by the associations. In their successful first appeal, the Missouri Court of Appeals ruled in the associations’ favor on questions that did not require overturning the Missouri Supreme Court decisions. The Court of Appeals sent the case back to the Circuit Court to decide some unresolved factual questions, including whether the District had repudiated the agreements. Now that it has been established that the District unilaterally repudiated the agreements, the question that remains is whether public employers should still have the power to walk away from agreements they negotiated.

“We understand that the Circuit Court had to follow the earlier Supreme Court decisions, but are gratified that the Circuit Court recognized that the District repudiated its agreements,” commented Greg Jung, MNEA statewide president. “Since the filing of this lawsuit, we have known that it would be a long struggle, but MNEA has been committed to take what ever legal steps necessary to try to improve the bargaining rights of our members and all Missouri public employees. We now look forward to the opportunity to request that the Supreme Court decide that the District, just like private employers, abide by the labor agreements it negotiates.”

The 33,000-member MNEA represents teachers, education support professionals, students studying to be teachers and those retired from teaching in public schools and on college campuses across the state. It is the Missouri affiliate of the 2.8 million-member NEA, the largest education organization in the nation.

July 25, 2006

For further information:
DeeAnn Aull
Phone 573-634-3202