EduShyster has a fascinating report on the festivities in New Orleans, where the National Charter School Conference is meeting. The event was supposed to be a celebration of the complete elimination of public education in New Orleans, but something unexpected happened. A group of charter teachers from Ohio disrupted a session to ask a charter founder why he fired teachers for trying to organize a union at his schools.
Here is the backstory:
When is *disruption* not just a super cool buzz word but something that’s actually, well, *disruptive*? That would be when teachers at the National Charter Schools Conference in New Orleans ask the CEO of an Ohio charter management organization about firing teachers for trying to organizing a union at his schools—and using taxpayer money to pay the fine when he got caught. This went about as well as you might expect. And when security arrived, combing through the crowd for disruptors, that’s when things got really disruptive…
Our story actually starts long before the bon temps starting roulez-ing at this year’s charter conference in the Big Easy. In 2014, teachers at two I CAN charter schools in Cleveland decided to unionize in hopes of improving working conditions at the school, raising pay and reducing sky-high turnover. And when the school year ended, seven teachers who were leaders of the organizing effort, found themselves no longer working at the schools. Why? Because they’d been fired by school leaders, who, according to a federal complaint filed by the teachers, *led teachers to believe they were under surveillance and pressured teachers into revealing who was leading the organizing effort.*
But wait—it gets better (for realz)
The feds sided with the teachers, finding that I CAN was guilty of *interfering with, restraining, and coercing employees.* The order, similar to an indictment in a criminal case, also accused I Can of *discriminating in regard to the hire or tenure or terms or conditions of employment, thereby discouraging membership in a labor organization.* I Can founders Marshall Emerson and Jason Stragand, meanwhile, acknowledged that they’d like their schools to remain union free, then paid the $69,000 in backpay they were ordered to pay the fired teachers with tax-payer money.
At the National Charter School Conference in New Orleans, the CEO of I CAN charters was talking about his plans for growth, emphasizing the importance of “hiring, working with, and retaining good teachers,” when one of his teachers disrupted his presentation. She asked, “Um, how do you square that with firing a bunch of them when they tried to organize a union?” and a group of other charter teachers began handing out leaflets about the situation at I CAN. In no time at all, security guards were there to corral the disrupters, which wasn’t all that easy.
EduShyster says that the teachers were “cage-busting,” to use Rick Hess’s term, people who bust out of their cages and take ownership of their schools.
This is all very funny, because the “reformers” have made a virtue of disruption. They call it “creative.” But apparently it is not welcome when they are the ones disrupted!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This is the best story of the year!
My hat is off to these brave teachers. Hooray!
Off topic, Jeb! Bush is starting to campaign as the “Education Candidate” using a sleazy Florida for-profit charter chain, Academica, as his backdrop:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mollyhensleyclancy/for-profit-charter-operator-in-jeb-bush-video-has-a-checkere#.ovdX3mw89
It is funny he chose a corruption-riddled one. I bet he doesn’t know. It’s not like someone at that level ever touches down between the black SUV and the campaign event. He spends about 7 minutes a day in the real world and probably has lived like that for decades.
Agree. It explains why Jeb! was unable to identify the age that Americans receive full S.S. benefits.
When a politician like Jeb! pronounces the need to increase the qualifying age, he ought to at least know the currently required age!
And they call him the “smarter” Bush brother. I disagree. He just sounds smarter because he doesn’t have a thick Texas accent.
Reblogged this on Who's Minding the Children? and commented:
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!
Charter teachers in states like Ohio are benefited because they work within a very unionized market in this state. Charters have to compete for teachers and public schools pay more, partly due to the fact that they have collective bargaining.
They all should support teachers unions whether they belong to one or not, unless they want the wage to be less than +/- 30k which is where it would end up here if charters were pegging it.
Race to the bottom is real. It actually hurts people financially, and very few people are spared. Stay neutral or join a union but don’t shoot yourself in the foot by opposing collective bargaining. You’ll get hurt.
Often, the unions won’t ALLOW charter teachers to join. My husband tried to join my state’s NEA affiliate when he taught at a charter, and the UEA (Utah Education Association) wouldn’t let him. He went all the way to Dennis Van Roekel, and no dice.
There was a recent charter school unionization in which they didn’t even bother with the teachers unions. They went with the Teamsters.
Your husband by himself tried to join? Contracts are not written for one teacher. He would need to organize the other teachers in his school and then ask the union to represent all of the teachers. An organizing drive takes at least a core of people reaching out to a union.
In Los Angeles, teachers from the largest charter chain, Alliance, have been attempting to unionize. When and if a union is organized, it will represent over 600 teachers, teaching over 10,000 students.
Here’s a long post with highlights of the efforts to form/crush this budding effort. We’re talking about David & Goliath here… young teacher folks, some in their early and mid-twenties, from low-income or middle-income backgrounds, going up against a billion-dollar organization like the CCSA… and courageously facing an implied threat of having their future careers as teachers ruined through being blackballed by CCSA and its allies.
Alliance management and the California Charter School Association have responded with illegal attempts to crush the teachers. The CCSA is funded by Gates, Broad, Walton et al. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who wants to abolish all school boards, is on their board of directors.
These teachers have had to file actions with the state’s governing body PERB (Public Employee Relations Board) multiple times. Once a group of teachers embarks on an attempt to organize a union, management has to back off, and stay out.
That’s not happening. Alliance has even resorted to paying former students to call up teachers and parents, reading the scripts in front of them. They try to pressure the teachers to oppose forming a union, and try to manipulate the parents into pressuring the teachers into not unionizing. This has nothing to do with the students’ belief in the benefits of the school remaining non-union, as they have no such belief. They are dirt poor, and need the money. That’s all.
Here’s the script that trie to paint UTLA as the evil boogey man (stage directions are in the script, not from me, btw):
http://utla.net/parentcalls-script-052015
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“Hi, my name is _________________. Is ____________ there? I am calling from a group of alumni from Alliance Charter Schools. How are you doing today?
“Great. I wanted to make sure you knew about a situation at the Alliance that could affect how decisions are made about your children’s education. Did you know that right now there is an effort to start a teachers’ union at the Alliance?”
IF YES: “What have you heard about what’s going on?”
—- Please pay close attention to these responses and note what is said in NationBuilder. If they have heard something that you know isn’t true, refer to fact sheet to see if you can correct any of this information.
Then go on to next paragraph.
IF NO: Just go on to next paragraph.
“Well, what we know right now is that UTLA – the teachers’ union in LA Unified schools – is trying to organize Alliance teachers to join UTLA. Right now the Alliance is independent and doesn’t have a union.
“Having a teachers’ union would be a big change for the Alliance. It would end the independence that the Alliance has to make decisions on behalf of kids.
“And – I don’t know about your kids – but I chose to go to the Alliance because of the small class sizes, great teachers, and personalized attention.” [Add any other reasons you chose to attend the Alliance.]
“If UTLA unionized at the Alliance, UTLA would get involved in decisions about those things – like how to evaluate teachers and how much learning time kids get. Even class sizes – and a lot more – would need to be approved by UTLA.
“And, did you know that UTLA actually has a track record of opposing charter schools?
“It’s true. UTLA has been against charter schools and the Alliance for years. They’ve given money to candidates for LA School Board who voted to close some Alliance Schools.
“And, UTLA has supported laws that make charter schools – including the Alliance schools – harder to start and operate.
“This isn’t right. So we are asking parents to sign a petition in support of the Alliance as it is today … without UTLA.
“Will you please sign our petition?”
If NO: “May I ask why you won’t sign it?” [Gauge by their response if they are actually in support of UTLA or if they just need more info or say they are too busy. If they really won’t sign it, say:]
“OK, thank you for your time today. Have a great day.”
If YES: “Great! Can I get an email address where we can send it to you?”
[Please record in NationBuilder if we don’t already have it.]
[If we don’t have an email, say:] “Can we send you a text message with the web site so you can sign our petition? Is this number that I’ve called you on the best number to send it to?”
[If they provide another number, please record in NationBuilder.]
“Thanks so much for your time today, and thank you for your support of the Alliance. Have a great day!”
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http://utla.net/parentcalls-script-052015
Here’s an article:
http://laschoolreport.com/alliance-schools-paying-alumni-to-promote-anti-utla-message/
Both the phone call script and that story above frames Alliance’s union-busting as an “anti-UTLA” effort. The truth is, that the move to unionize originated internally at Alliance. Those teachers came to UTLA, not the other way around. The teachers at Alliance are free to pursue whatever course they wish, including an effort to unionize independent of UTLA.
Here’s another article:
http://utla.net/node/5627
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UTLA:
“Alliance administration initially responded by issuing a statement assuring teachers and counselors that they would ‘support any decision made by employees to join or not to join a union.’ In later responses to news publications Alliance stated that their intent is simply ‘to put out facts so teachers can make informed decisions.’
“However, recent actions and an internal memorandum authored by Alliance and circulated to administrators show that in fact there is a concerted campaign coordinated by Alliance home office to coerce and discourage teachers, and even parents, from supporting educators forming a union. The document is a guide for administrators on how to utilize personal information in pressuring teachers to not support a union, to illegally block teachers’ access to union information during non-work time, to attempt to silence pro-union teachers’ voices and encourage anti-union teachers, and campaign to parents to discourage them from supporting teachers.
“ ‘ We are disappointed that Alliance would deliberately claim to their educators and parents that they would not pressure teachers on the one hand and then on the other hand run an intentionally divisive anti-union campaign against us,’ said Oliver Aguirre, English teacher at Alliance Susan & Eric Smidt Technology High School in Lincoln Heights.
” ‘In addition to this new evidence and in response to continued coercion, illegal surveillance, and threats of receiving negative evaluations, Alliance teachers are filing additional Unfair Practice Charges with the California Public Employment Relations Board.’
“ ‘The Alliance administration told us they would respect the decision of their teachers, but their anti-union behavior doesn’t feel respectful at all. This anti-union playbook shows that rather than respect the voices of their pro-union educators the Alliance is doing everything to discourage them,’ said Xochitl Johansen, special education teacher at Alliance Marc & Eva Stern Math and Science High School.”
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Again, we’re talking about David & Goliath here… young folks, some in their early and mid-twenties, from low-income or middle-income backgrounds, going up against a billion-dollar organization like the CCSA… and courageously facing an implied threat of having their future careers as teachers ruined through being blackballed by CCSA and its allies.
Finally, here’s the memo given to Alliance administrators, and leaked to the press. It’s basically a “How to Crush Unionization” Manual:
Click to access UTLA-Allaince-doc-1.pdf
EXCERPTS
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“Talking directly to your people is the best way. Principals can and should tell everyone often that we are doing what we can to stop this (organizing of a union)”
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
“Make use of personal information about teachers in persuading them against forming a union: ‘ Feel free to highlight information you think might be useful to them. For example, if we know a teacher is concerned about finances, you might say,
” ‘I was amazed to learn that dues for this union could be about $700 a year. ’”
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
“You do not have to allow union representatives on your campus.”
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
“The goal is NO unionization, not WHICH union (becomes allied with Alliance teachers, once a union is formed, JACK)”
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Regarding part of the script where the Alliance administrator, with no prodding from upper management (COUGH! COUGH!), makes the “amazing” discovery that a prospective union—horror or horrors!—charges dues that may amount to $700/year, keep this in mind. UTLA just negotiated a 10% raise that covers that amount many times over, even for first year teachers at the lowest end of the salary scale.
Does that Alliance administrator actually think the teachers in UTLA would have received that double-digit salary increase if they were 35,000 isolated independent contractors, instead of collective unionized force funded by dues?
One more thing, here’s UTLA’s timeline of illegal union-busting activity:
http://utla.net/node/5594
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“Timeline of Alliance Anti-Union Activity:
“FRIDAY, MARCH 13th – Almost 70 teachers at Alliance announce that they want to form a union at their schools. Alliance Chief Executive Dan Katzir told the Los Angeles Times that “We acknowledge the rights of our teachers to undertake this effort. We also recognize that our teachers are under no obligation to participate.”[1]
Judy Burton, former Alliance CEO and Dan Katzir send their first communication to staff regarding union activity stating, “To be clear, we do not endorse or denounce any particular union or unions generally. Regardless, we will support any decision by employees to join or not join a union.”
“MONDAY, MARCH 16th – Alliance sends a letter to teachers under the guise of facts about organizing. It says that teachers have a right to join a union free from coercion. The letter, sent to every teacher from their supervisor, then attacks unionization and unions.
“WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18th- Alliance, despite legal right to have union meetings on non-work time tells teachers and union organizers that they have no right to meet on school property.
“FRIDAY, MARCH 20th – Alliance purchases a domain that will house their anti-union website.[2]
“FRIDAY, MARCH 20th—Alliance distributes another letter to certificated staff under the guise of more facts about UTLA and the union. The letter expands on the March 16th the attack on unionization, unions and UTLA.
“MONDAY, MARCH 23rd—Dan Katzir sends an email to all staff encouraging staff to “give me a fair opportunity to prove that commitment to you—in not just words, but action—before you make any decisions on the unionization question.”
“MONDAY, MARCH 23rd – Alliance management sends a letter to parents attacking the teacher’s decision to form a union signed by Dan Katzir and former CEO Judy Burton. [3]
“WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25th- Alliance illegally blocks email newsletter to Alliance educators from Alliance Educators United.
“THURSDAY, MARCH 26th- Alliance, despite legal right to have union meetings on non-work time tells teachers and union organizers that they have no right to meet on school property.
“THURSDAY, MARCH 26th – Alliance website attacking the union goes online. [4]
“THURSDAY, MARCH 26th—Alliance sends a memo to all certificated staff outlining the benefits Alliance offers its teachers and stating, ‘We respectfully disagree with the assertion that unionization with UTLA would help advance educational opportunities with our students.’
“FRIDAY, MARCH 27th- Alliance does an automated phone call to parents and families at one or more schools criticizing the unionization effort of educators.”
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The CCSA knows that if Alliance goes union, teachers the other chains may also follow suit… KIPP, Aspire, etc.
Oh… and if you care about these teachers, go “LIKE” their “ALLIANCE EDUCATORS UNITED” Facebook page , and perhaps leave a supportive comment or two:
https://www.facebook.com/allianceeducators
… or sign Alliance Educators United’s petition on Move On.org:
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/alliance-college-ready
“ ‘ We are disappointed that Alliance would deliberately claim to their educators and parents that they would not pressure teachers on the one hand and then on the other hand run an intentionally divisive anti-union campaign against us,’ said Oliver Aguirre, English teacher at Alliance Susan & Eric Smidt Technology High School in Lincoln Heights.
” ‘In addition to this new evidence and in response to continued coercion, illegal surveillance, and threats of receiving negative evaluations, Alliance teachers are filing additional Unfair Practice Charges with the California Public Employment Relations Board.’ ”
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In regards to “continued coercion, illegal surveillance, and threats of receiving negative evaluations,” I heard that this was done one-on-one with administrator. The administrator would demand a meeting with individual teachers, under the pretext of mentoring or counseling the teacher.
Once alone with the administrator in his or her office, the administrator would then threaten one of these teachers with a negative evaluation, or with not being offered a contract for the 2015-16 school year, if that teacher did not cease any pro-union activity, or if the teachers started such activity, or if the teacher in any way supported organizing a union at their site. If and when there was a vote, and the necessary majority voted for unionization—the administrator would threaten—heads would roll, or words to that effect.
It’s ugly… really ugly.
This, of course, is against the law. They do it any way because the fine for breaking the law is not severe enough.
Here’s an article about students supporting a teacher who was fired for union activity:
http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/18084/charter_school_students_rally_in_defense_of_fired_teacher
More of this is needed around the country. Until there are 50 state laws shedding sunshine on every charter and they allow their teachers to unionize if they want to, labor and teachers have to make them miserable. By the way, charters supposedly believe in choice. Well, they need to give their teachers the right to unionize or not.
Liberal teacher most state laws allow teachers in charters to unionize (Perhaps all, I’m not sure). I agree that charter teachers should have that right.
Charters in Detroit have been voting to unionize. The Detroit News ran a panicky editorial about how unions would run all that fancy charter innovation.
When the system goes all charter, the unions will return. Not with the power they once had, but they will still be a presence. It’s foolish to think that people who enjoy teaching and would like to make a career of the profession won’t demand better working conditions and pay. Teachers are college educated people and they know enough about their value and rights to join a union if a collective voice is the best way to achieve those rights.
The process may take a while, but there’s a good chance that everything will end up close to where it started and all of this re-shuffling of education funding will simply yield a system barely changed. Maybe that’s wishful thinking but I honestly believe the reformers know they have a brief window to extract their profits before skedaddling.
Management is willing to spend as much money as it can get it’s hands on, and break the law if necessary, to stop employees from organizing. They will pay the fines and restitution after the fact if they think that they can stop the momentum in the beginning.
I have so much respect for these young teachers. They know so much more about the need to have a union then the teachers who are hired under a good contract.
Too many teachers don’t understand the risks that the teachers that came before them took to secure the rights that they now have.
In Los Angeles, I support the teacher’s drive to unionize. I do not support them joining UTLA. If you want an effective union, UTLA is not the one at this time. As one commenter said, its better to skip the teacher’s union and find another union like the Teamsters or someone else to represent you. If you follow the happenings in LAUSD, let Rafe Esquith’s situation be a cautionary tale. What effective union would allow its membership to be without legal protection, what union would refuse to defend its own CBA. While unionship would be beneficial for your group, Don’t join UTLA unless you want to get in bed with LAUSD and that’s never been good for teachers.
Here’s another great article:
http://prospect.org/article/when-charters-go-union
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This quote from that article says it all, in a nutshell:
“When I asked Sarah Apt, an ESL teacher at Olney, if she ever tried to talk to management about workplace issues before going the union route, she laughed. ‘We’ve had a million committees and conversations,’ Apt says.
“ ‘You can have a conversation with them now! But without your coworkers standing behind you, the [outcome of] the conversation depends entirely on the whims of the administration.’ ”
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Here’s a more great quotes;
======================
On union-busting efforts of charter management:
“That was just the start of a full-bore, anti-union campaign: Administrators held closed-door, one-on-one meetings with teachers and staff, threatened teachers with layoffs and benefit cuts, put anti-union literature in teachers’ mailboxes, required teachers to attend mandatory meetings with anti-union consultants, and announced that teachers could be fired or disciplined for remarks they made about ASPIRA on social media.
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Here’s how the article ends:
“Asharg Molla has been working at the Alliance Gertz-Ressler High School ever since she started as a Los Angeles Teach For America corps member in 2009. She likes working for a charter organization, and believes in its mission of creating a small collaborative community where teachers, board members, and parents can all work together.
“ ‘But that’s just not what it’s been,’ she says sadly. While she speaks highly of her school, colleagues, and principals, she joined in with the Alliance cohort organizing for a union because, she says, she recognizes there are limits to what even a good principal can do within a big, fast-growing organization. She knows too many Alliance teachers who are afraid to speak up, lest they rock the boat and lose their job.
“The campaign in Los Angeles is gaining steam. Since Molla and her colleagues went public in March, the number of teachers who have pledged support has more than doubled—146 teachers (out of the roughly 600 who work at Alliance schools) have now signed the public petition. But Alliance administrators and their allies are doubling down on their efforts to thwart unionization. Beginning in late May, the California Charter Schools Association started to pay Alliance alumni to call parents at home, in an effort to drum up opposition to a union.
“ ‘I don’t want to work for a machine that just cares about the growth and expansion of the organization,’ says Molla. ‘Although [fighting for a union] is not an easy process, and can be exhausting, it really just shows these large organizations that we are the ones who make up this organization and that there needs to be that balance of power.’ ”
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We’re talking about David & Goliath here… young teacher folks, some in their early and mid-twenties, from low-income or middle-income backgrounds, going up against a billion-dollar organization like the California Charter Schools Association… and courageously facing an implied threat of having their future careers as teachers ruined through being blackballed by CCSA and its allies.
Unquestionably faculty should have a right to organize a union, whether in a traditional district or a chartered public school.
However, as Jennifer’s report focused on one session, I thought it might be useful to cite other sessions in which educators described how chartering helped them carry out ideas that they believe in – one of the goals of chartering.
There was a “strand” within the conference that focused on instruction. Sessions discussed, for example, how to reduce bullying, how to make more effective use of blended learning strategies, how to ask more effective questions in math classes, how to move away from the “sage on the stage” approach to teaching, and how to organize a school that believes in the importance of innovation, arts, and creativity, improving writing instruction, doing a better job of serving students with special needs, and instructional strategies for mixed age, middle schools in rural areas. These are only examples.