Posts tagged AFT
Staff at New Orleans’ French immersion school, Lycée Français, vote to unionize
May 16, 2024 // This week's vote comes as Republican state lawmakers have introduced several bills aiming to weaken public-sector unions. However, one of the harshest measures, which would outlaw collective bargaining for teachers and other public employees, would not apply to charter schools because the federal labor board has ruled that they are entitled to union protections. Lycée Français is the seventh New Orleans charter school to unionize since 2013, when Morris Jeff Community School joined UTNO. The other union schools are Rooted School, International High School, Bricolage Academy, Ben Franklin High School and the Living School, though that school is set to close.
KIPP St. Louis Charter High School Educators to Vote This Week on Whether to Oust AFT Union Bosses
May 14, 2024 // “AFT union officials haven’t stood up for us,” commented Johnston. “I think the majority of my coworkers agree that they’ve only made it harder for us to help our students succeed, especially through a divisive strike order, and that’s a trend I hope we can reverse with this vote. We hope the election proceeds without delay and without interference from union officials.” The NLRB has scheduled a vote to occur on Friday, May 17. According to Johnston’s petition, the vote will occur among “College and Career Advisors, English Language Learners, Leads, Lead Teachers, Learning Support Teachers, Mental health Professionals, School Nurses, Special Ed. Teachers, Specials Teachers, Speech Language Pathologists, Virtual Learning Facilitators, Behavior Support Specialists, High School Registrars, Long Term Subs, Office Coordinators, Paraprofessionals, Permanent Building Subs and Receptionists” at the school.
CONNECTICUT: Senator’s Dual Roles Raise Ethical Questions Amid Legislative Decisions
April 29, 2024 // Citing the need to pay people “a fair wage and a fair pension,” Sen Hochadel argued that the state must provide higher wages — which already exceed the private sector — to address state job vacancies. This stance suggests a dual agenda: to attract job candidates to the state and swell the ranks of her union with more dues paying members. During her remarks, the Senator acknowledged her members, expressing appreciation for their contributions to the state of Connecticut and urged her colleagues “to vote yes.” While this advocacy may not be surprising, she also serves as the president of the Connecticut American Federation of Teachers (AFT) — one of the unions involved in the negotiations. AFT represents a broader group than just teachers. The union also includes dues paying members who are state employees in the executive and judicial branches, as well as staff at state colleges, universities and UConn Health.
Commentary: The Teachers’ Unions Are More Political than Ever
April 18, 2024 // Americans for Fair Treatment, a national nonprofit organization that educates public employees about their rights in a unionized workplace, recently released a report detailing the National Education Association’s (NEA) financial filings from Sept. 1, 2022, through Aug. 31, 2023. The NEA declared that its political spending totaled $50.1 million during the fiscal year, though the true number is much higher. During the most recent reporting period, the union disclosed that it spent “$126.3 million on ‘contributions, gifts, and grants,’ which is where most unions detail their charitable giving.” However, a closer look at the union’s “contributions, gifts, and grants” shows that the NEA is directing more money towards political causes than it reports.
Michigan’s largest unions have seen plummeting membership over the past decade
April 18, 2024 // Analysis Michigan’s largest unions have seen plummeting membership over the past decade Jobs and incomes are up, workplace injuries are down By Jarrett Skorup | April 16, 2024Share on FacebookShare on X Photo by Kateryna Babaieva on Pexels In recent years, most of Michigan’s largest labor unions saw massive declines in membership, despite significant job growth in most industries. The reason? A decade with right-to-work law, which gave workers the ability to choose whether to join a union, as a member or through a fee, or not. The reports many labor unions are required to file with the federal government reveal the state of labor union membership, as do reports from the Michigan Civil Service Commission. Every one of Michigan’s 15 largest unions or so has seen a decline, whether in state government, schools, local government, or private industries such as construction or food service. But the declines are uneven. A variety of AFSCME associations, representing mostly state and local government workers, have seen a loss of more than half their members. The SEIU, which mostly represents workers in health care and local government, is down nearly 70%. Despite job gains in the auto sector over the past decade and a highly publicized strike last year, the UAW branches in Michigan have lost 16,000 members over the past decade. Other private sector unions have seen fewer losses. These include the United Food and Commercial Workers (-8.7%), Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters (-6.8%), the Operating Engineers (-2.5%) and Michigan Nurses Association (-3.7%). Losses in the public sector are much more pronounced than those in the private sector. The Michigan Education Association has now lost more than 38,000 members, or one-third, since the right-to-work law went into effect in 2013. The American Federation of Teachers branch, the bulk of which is in the Detroit Federation of Teachers, is down more than 25%. The Michigan public school system added 27,000 employees since 2012, but its largest employee unions have lost a combined 45,000 members. The total number of public sector union members in Michigan has dropped by 80,000 since the right-to-work law was passed. Unions representing state of Michigan employees are down by more than one-third. That may soon change. The Democratic-led Michigan Legislature repealed the state’s right-to-work law in 2023. The UAW and other unions representing workers for private employers can now require them to rejoin or pay fees. A 2018 ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court means that public sector employees such as schoolteachers still have the right to decline paying or joining a union. Repealing the law is expected to boost union membership and financial support for the Democratic Party. In fighting in 2012 against a law allowing workers to opt out, SEIU Healthcare Michigan President Marge Faville said unions needed the forced funds to “make sure Democrats get [elected].” Just before legislators voted to enact a right-to-work law, a local Michigan Education Association leader sent an email out on a public server to tell other public school employees that “[emergency management] is the future in Michigan with a Republican governor and Legislature” and union members need to “[get] everyone we know to vote for Democrats.”
Dearborn schools responds to CapCon story on illegal contract language
April 4, 2024 // Steve Delie, director of labor policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, thinks the contract poorly serves Dearborn employees. “Whether or not this language is enforced, it is still misleading,” he told CapCon. Keeping inoperative language in the contract is not the best practice, he said, as it requires teachers to be up to date on the latest legal developments. “School employees have a constitutional right to work without being forced to pay a union, and their contracts should clearly reflect that.”
Ohio University officials won’t yet commit to remaining neutral on efforts to form a faculty union
March 15, 2024 // In his reply, the university’s senior associate general counsel, Michael Courtney, wrote that the university was not given enough information and was not provided with enough time to evaluate the requests. “In order to appropriately ensure all voices of the University faculty employees are heard, it is imperative for University leadership to seek and require proof of majority support,” Courtney wrote. In the meantime, Courtney wrote, “Ohio University will pledge that it will comply with regulations” in state law that govern the unionizing process. UAOU sent out a statement to members the day after Courtney’s letter was sent, in which the organization noted that while the university did not agree to UAOU’s requests, it did agree to follow the law.
After decades of corruption Florida teachers seek new union with integrity
February 25, 2024 // “I noted that the increase in union dues and health care costs were not matched by commensurate salary improvements,” Beightol said. “I began investigating what was going on.” Around the same time, former UTD president Pat Tornillo was arrested for swindling the union out of millions of dollars. Beightol unsuccessfully ran for president of UTD twice, before being expelled for “anti-union” behavior.
Opinion: Is The American Labor Movement Ready For Gen Z?
February 12, 2024 // It’s fair to ask what any of this has to do with unions’ supposed goal of bargaining for better wages and conditions for workers. The data is regrettably clear: with this trend towards increased activism, representation for actual union members has suffered. Some of the nation’s largest labor unions routinely spend as much or more on political activities than they do on representing their existing members. For example, in 2022 the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), representing over 1.8 million workers, spent $63.5 million on political activities and lobbying, which is more than double what it spent representing its membership. The American Federation of Teachers spent $46.9 million supporting Left-wing politics in 2023, while the National Education Association spent less on member representation than it did on political causes. Organized labor is already diverting too much time and money away from the well-being of workers and toward unrelated political agendas. As more members of Gen Z join unions and gain leadership positions, we can only expect this trend to increase.
Commentary: Florida Teachers’ Union Fights Re-Certification Vote
February 6, 2024 // With an annual budget of $11.5 million, that means UTD sends nearly half of the dues it collects from its members out of the district. Of the $6.2 million it keeps in Dade County, UTD spends more than $5 million on salaries for officers and staff (Hernandez-Mats alone pulls down $223,000). Once its other overhead costs are factored in, the union has only a tiny fraction left to spend advocating for its dues-payers.