Appeals Court ruling favors public employees
in lawsuit filed by MNEA local affiliates
In a victory for public employees, on Jan. 18 the Missouri
Court of Appeals for the Western District reversed the Trial
Court’s decision favoring the Independence School District
on four of five counts of a lawsuit filed in 2002. Associations
affiliated with the Missouri National Education Association
representing the district’s teachers, paraprofessionals,
bus drivers and custodians sued to challenge the district’s
refusal to comply with long-established negotiation procedures
and its unilateral decision to use a collaborative team approach
for discussions with employees.
The Appeals Court reversal confirms MNEA’s view that
public employee unions have enforceable rights under Missouri
law and negotiated agreements. “We are gratified the
Court of Appeals recognizes that teachers and education support
employees have enforceable rights to meet and confer with
public school districts about their working conditions,”
MNEA President Greg Jung says.
The Court of Appeals upheld the Trial Court on only one
count, which requested the reversal of Springfield v. Clouse,
a 1946 Missouri Supreme Court decision denying collective
bargaining rights to public employees. On this count, the
Court of Appeals stated, “Neither the Trial Court nor
this court has the authority to overrule a decision issued
by the Supreme Court of Missouri.” The MNEA affiliates
will seek to appeal this ruling to the Missouri Supreme Court,
which can reconsider its own precedent.
While the Court of Appeals found that the outcome of the
four counts reversed depends on factual disputes that the
Trial Court needs to determine on remand, it largely upheld
the legal theories advanced by the MNEA locals. The Court
held that the district’s collaborative team policy would
violate the rights of bus drivers, custodians and paraprofessionals
if it failed to allow their unions “to present proposals
of their own . . . directly to the district.” The Appeals
Court questioned the use of the collaborative team approach
itself by stating, “We . . . harbor serious reservations
as to whether this would be sufficient to comply with the
district’s obligation under the law to negotiate with
the exclusive bargaining representative of each appropriate
employee unit.”
The Court of Appeals also rejected the school district’s
argument that it could terminate or ignore an agreement with
the teachers’ association to “meet and confer”
about terms and conditions of employment. While it deferred
to the Trial Court some of the underlying facts involving
the specific Independence NEA agreement, it held that if such
an agreement existed between the district and the teachers,
the district could not “change its policy at any time
for any reason without discussing the matter with the teachers.
That assertion is clearly contrary to existing case law.”
The 32,000-member Missouri NEA represents teachers and education
support professionals in Independence and other school districts
throughout the state, as well as students studying to be teachers
and teachers retired from education. It is the Missouri affiliate
of the 2.7 million-member National Education Association.
For further information:
Carol
K. Schmoock
573-634-3202
January 19, 2005
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