Members move forward with collective bargaining plans

Missouri NEA locals are moving quickly to reclaim their members’ collective bargaining rights, recently restored to them by the Missouri Supreme Court. In its historic decision May 29, the Court ruled that the Missouri Constitution means exactly what it says, that “Employees shall have the right to organize and bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing.”

In many MNEA locals, the key issue will be winning district recognition as the exclusive bargaining representative for a group of employees. The concept of “exclusivity” is essential to successful collective bargaining. Exclusivity simply means that a majority of the employees choose a single organization that will represent them and their colleagues at the bargaining table. Speaking with a single voice, democratically selected, is the essence of collective bargaining. This single-voice approach eliminates the temptation for employers to try a “divide and conquer” strategy during the bargaining process and therefore makes the process far more likely to remain collaborative and constructive. In addition, it simplifies the process for the employee by eliminating the need to negotiate with multiple groups, all claiming to represent the same set of employees.

A growing number of MNEA locals are already requesting recognition from their school districts as exclusive bargaining representatives for teacher and ESP groups.

Perfecting a good thing with exclusive representation
Grandview NEA, near Kansas City, has participated for several years in Grandview 10, the district’s collaborative negotiations team that represents all employee groups in the district. Local leaders believe strongly in a collaborative approach and want exclusive representation to take that collaborative process to its next, most productive level.

Grandview NEA President Rebekah McIntosh sent a request for exclusive representation on the Grandview 10 team at the beginning of August. McIntosh reports that she has had several candid and helpful conversations with Grandview’s board president after she received the local’s letter. McIntosh was able to share with her board president what the decision meant for other districts and Grandview NEA’s role in helping share the success of their collaborative approach with others.

“We are both fiercely protective of the Grandview 10 process that’s been in place for almost 20 years, and I wanted to be very clear that I don’t want to derail or hinder our process in any way,” McIntosh says. “She was very receptive.”

The local and the district agreed to make exclusivity the first topic of discussion at their initial team meeting early this fall. McIntosh predicts that Grandview 10 team members will have a conversation about the process. She then plans to ask for a vote. She is confident that a vote will result in GNEA representation on all five teacher seats on the team.

“I am optimistic that a full contingent of Grandview NEA team members will be a great enhancement to an already hugely successful negotiating process in the Grandview school district. All the GNEA team members are seasoned leaders, with significant experience in negotiations, and our UniServ director, Bar Kaelter, has been an invaluable source of data and support for the team. The Grandview 10 process is a textbook example of all that is good about collective bargaining for Missouri teachers. Our process is fair and promotes shared decision making. We make important decisions about our schools, and teachers are respected as the experts when we make decisions about our students and schools. GNEA has led the way for almost 20 years in developing the Grandview 10 team and its successes. The school district’s faculty deserves the best possible representation on our negotiating team, and GNEA is clearly the best voice for teachers in Grandview.”

Upgrading agreements
Locals that have been negotiating with their school districts for years, under the restrictive limits set by court decisions up until May, are moving to shake off those limits by upgrading their existing agreements to the status of true collective bargaining agreements. Even these “bargaining” locals need to be sure that their agreements don’t carry within them any vestiges of the pre-May 29 legal framework.

For example, the Court’s May ruling overturned an obsolete case known as Sumpter vs. Moberly. Under the old “Sumpter” rules, school districts could enter into agreements with groups of their employees, but those agreements had no legal standing and could not be enforced. Employees could go about their business believing that the agreement they had reached in good faith with their district would be honored. Yet all the while the district remained legally free to unilaterally walk away from its agreement at any time. Under the new ruling, agreements reached between districts and employee groups are binding contracts as long as they meet certain basic requirements.

MNEA’s local association representing teachers in the Parkway school district has been negotiating with the district since 1967. In 1974 the two parties, the district and the Parkway local, reaffirmed this fact, and the district recognized Parkway NEA as the exclusive bargaining representative for Parkway teachers. In the more than 30 years that have followed, Parkway NEA’s basic agreement, which covered only recognition, salary and benefits in 1974, has evolved into a full-scale collective bargaining agreement, covering salaries, benefits, terms and conditions of employment and even issues like curriculum and evaluation rules.

Now Parkway NEA is moving to ensure that this long history of successful negotiations moves smoothly to the next level. Immediately following the May Court decision, PNEA President Jo Wanda Bozeman and UniServ Director Vito Maniaci met with district officials to begin discussions on those items in the agreement that could be tightened up to make it conform more closely to the Supreme Court ruling. They identified some areas that could be improved and are now working with the district’s administrators on language to bring the agreement in line with the Court ruling.

“Parkway NEA has a strong history of bargaining good agreements for our members,” says JoWanda Bozeman. “Now we have the chance to solidify that history. “The Court ruling gives us an opportunity to take our productive relationship with the district to the next level.”

Maniaci also serves as UniServ director for MNEA’s largest higher education local, representing full-time faculty in the St. Louis Community College system. As one of MNEA’s original leaders and longest-serving staff members, he has worked for years for the collective bargaining rights of Missouri educators. When the Court handed down its ruling, Maniaci went to work with the leaders of the SLCC local to convert their negotiated joint resolution with the college into a full-scale collective bargaining agreement. The college administrators were open to this approach, and the local leaders and college administrators recently signed one of the first formal contracts agreed to under the new legal framework.

Taking the next step
As MNEA local associations move forward into the collective bargaining era, the Association is working to make sure that all local leaders and members have the resources they need to succeed. Many locals are asking what they should do to secure and exercise their bargaining rights.
“MNEA is very aware that one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to our locals,” says MNEA President Chris Guinther. “MNEA locals range from large to small, from rural to suburban to urban, and from one edge of the state to the other. That’s why the Association has adopted a flexible approach to helping locals move into bargaining.”

MNEA has created a Bargaining Assessment Team to work with locals on assessing their readiness to request exclusive representative status and begin bargaining. The BAT comprises seven members of the MNEA professional staff with special experience or expertise in bargaining and organizing. Members of the BAT are available to visit locals and meet with local leadership and their UniServ director to work through the criteria that might make a local ready to bargain. The BAT members will perform local assessments and then make recommendations to the local leaders and UniServ directors about preparations for bargaining. The UniServ director will then help the local leaders access any assistance that might be needed to move the local forward. To arrange a consultation with the BAT, contact your UniServ director or complete a request at www.mnea.org in the Members Only section.

The Supreme Court decision restoring education employees’ right to collective bargaining marks a historic moment in the history of MNEA, which fought long and hard to win this important victory. Now, MNEA stands ready to assist members and locals as they take the next step. MNEA’s touchstone is its commitment to great public schools for every student. Collective bargaining is a way to make that commitment a reality by ensuring that educators, experts in determining what students need to succeed, have an effective voice in shaping and improving Missouri schools.

by Patrick Harvey
MNEA director of field services

sb, fall 07