Springfield NEA sues Springfield school district
after board denies teachers’ right to elect a bargaining representative

Springfield NEA, an affiliate of the Missouri National Education Association, filed a lawsuit June 2 challenging the Springfield Public Schools’ new policy for teacher collective bargaining because it violates the Missouri Constitution and ignores the kind of election requested by a majority of teachers. A split Board of Education adopted the policy May 26 over SNEA’s objections.

The Policy imposes an unprecedented system for choosing a collective bargaining representative different than the one requested by 1,140 (approximately 63 percent) district teachers in petitions presented to the Board of Education last fall. The petitions request an election for an exclusive collective bargaining representative. The Policy, instead, imposes on teachers a threshold election on the options of exclusive, multiple or no representation. The option of “multiple representation” by more than one union would deny teachers their right to an exclusive bargaining representative protected by Article I, Section 29 of Missouri’s Constitution.

“We know of no public or private sector collective bargaining process that incorporates such features,” says SNEA President Ray Smith. “Collective bargaining is a system where employees democratically elect a single organization to serve as a unified voice in bargaining for teachers. The board’s policy denies teachers the rights granted to other public employees, and it paves the road for an unworkable process. A system with multiple representatives prevents the teacher team from speaking with one voice and leads to fragmentation, conflict and an overall breakdown in communications.

“The Board claims that the option of multiple representation is necessary to enable all teachers to have a voice in bargaining,” Smith explains, “but an exclusive representative has a duty to fairly represent all employees in the group. Exclusive representation is also the system used to represent District educational support employees.”

The talks about bargaining began after the May 2007 Missouri Supreme Court ruling in Independence NEA v. Independence School District. The court affirmed in that decision that teachers, like other public employees, have a right to bargain collectively with their employers. The Court recognized that Article I, Section 29, the part of the Missouri constitution in question, was modeled after the National Labor Relations Act, which calls for an exclusive bargaining agent elected by a majority of the employees.

The 35,000-member MNEA represents teachers, education support professionals, college faculty, retired teachers and students studying to be teachers in school districts and on college campuses throughout the state. It is the Missouri affiliate of the 3.2 million-member NEA.

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For further information:
Ray Smith
(417) 869-5090

June 2, 2009