About Collective Bargaining

There’s been a lot of buzz in the Albemarle County Public Schools lately about collective bargaining. As a person born and raised in the Chicagoland area, the word “union” is something that I am familiar with, but I had no idea until recently that a group (say, the teachers and staff of Albemarle County Public Schools) could have a union but NOT be allowed the right to collective bargaining. In my experience, the major point of a union was collective bargaining.

What is collective bargaining, and why is it coming up now? The very basic answer is that collective bargaining is the ability for the teachers and staff to have a voice in contract and other policy negotiations. It seems like a no-brainer that we, as a community, would want those people who are working closest with our students to have their input heard when it comes to their working conditions…the conditions our students are learning in.

I’m sure there are some people who hear “collective bargaining” and think “strike”. It is easy to understand why.. Media covers strikes. We don’t hear about the many times that conflict between unions and administrators is amicably resolved, and we hear even less about the times that input from teachers is valued and included in negotiations without conflict at all. When we hear about collective bargaining, it is usually from news stories, like the Chicago Public School strikes at the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year, and from dramatic interpretations of labor disputes, a la Disney’s Newsies (one of my personal favorites). We are therefore led to (wrongly) believe that if our teachers want collective bargaining, we should expect strikes.

This is simply not true. Being the devil’s advocate that I am, I asked Vernon Liechti, the president of the Albemarle Education Association this question:

“What is your answer to community members who immediately assume that “collective bargaining” means “striking teachers disrupting the education of our children”?”

His reply was succinct. He emphasized that educators are primarily concerned with their students. Many of the issues that the AEA advocates for are directly related to our students’ experiences (including smaller class sizes, sufficient classroom supplies, etc.). He also said that educators WANT to be in the classroom — workers WANT to be doing their work. There are a lot of steps in negotiation before a strike. If a union (any union) votes to strike, it represents a the worst possible communication breakdown between parties.

There are those in the community who will be quick to say, “If teachers don’t like how their contracts are written, they can go work somewhere else.”

Therein lies our problem. They ARE leaving. ACPS teachers are leaving our schools in droves because of burnout and lack of professional respect. They are being told to do all the things in all the hours and when they comply, they are told to do more. Our fabulous, strong teachers ARE LEAVING, and the new teachers, the bright-eyed optimistic teachers who are graduating from UVa and beyond are NOT COMING to ACPS. They are choosing to start their careers in districts that already allow collective bargaining. We are losing our strong staff, and becoming a worse district for it.

Why is this coming up now? Because the teachers overwhelmingly voted to approve collective bargaining, and presented their resolution to the school board. This Thursday, May 12, at their meeting the school board will vote for or against this resolution. The school board of the Charlottesville City Schools has already passed the resolution presented by their teachers’ union.

We can say we support teachers all we like. In a recent survey I asked some teachers to fill out, when asked what the community could do to show their support and confidence in them, the overwhelming response was to support their efforts to secure collective bargaining rights.

The school board meeting is May 12. You can be there in person if you want, whether you sign up to speak or not. If that doesn’t work for you, you can send an email to your school board rep or the whole board. Whatever the case, this is where the rubber meets the road. Appreciating teachers is a continuous action, and it’s beyond time for us to show them that we value their expertise.

Please read more on the AEA website: https://albeduassociation.wixsite.com/aeaalbemarle/collective-bargaining