Local Educators Fight Back De-certifying NEA and its State Affiliate
A group of teachers from a district about 70 miles north of Topeka
has voted to lessen their ties to the state's main teachers' union,
becoming the second district to do so in 2013.
Teachers in Vermillion Unified School District 380, which includes Centralia and Frankfort, voted 27-9-1 Friday to end collective bargaining representation by the Kansas National Education Association. In "de-certifying," the Vermillion teachers joined their southwest Kansas counterparts in Deerfield, which took similar action by an 11-10 vote in June.
News of the Vermillion vote was released by Garry Sigle, executive director of the Kansas Association of American Educators, who wrote via email that "the unaffiliated group of teachers that I had been working with won the election over the NEA State affiliated KNEA group."
Sigle, reached by phone said the decision means each Vermillion teacher will get to vote on who will represent them in collective bargaining talks, rather than only those who pay KNEA dues getting a vote.
He said he was part of a similar movement in 2009 in Riley County.
“Everybody has an opportunity to have a say rather than just those who choose to pay KNEA dues,” Sigle said.
Karen Godfrey, president of the KNEA, said Vermillion's de-certification wasn’t unexpected because the process has been underway for some time.
“It’s always a right that they have to do that," Godfrey said. "And we will still have members in Vermillion, and we’ll provide membership opportunities to those members.”
(I'll bet she wasn't so pleasant during the process though! Chajoling, threatening, and vindictive are the words that come to my mind from my experiences. RA)
Teachers in Vermillion Unified School District 380, which includes Centralia and Frankfort, voted 27-9-1 Friday to end collective bargaining representation by the Kansas National Education Association. In "de-certifying," the Vermillion teachers joined their southwest Kansas counterparts in Deerfield, which took similar action by an 11-10 vote in June.
News of the Vermillion vote was released by Garry Sigle, executive director of the Kansas Association of American Educators, who wrote via email that "the unaffiliated group of teachers that I had been working with won the election over the NEA State affiliated KNEA group."
Sigle, reached by phone said the decision means each Vermillion teacher will get to vote on who will represent them in collective bargaining talks, rather than only those who pay KNEA dues getting a vote.
He said he was part of a similar movement in 2009 in Riley County.
“Everybody has an opportunity to have a say rather than just those who choose to pay KNEA dues,” Sigle said.
Karen Godfrey, president of the KNEA, said Vermillion's de-certification wasn’t unexpected because the process has been underway for some time.
“It’s always a right that they have to do that," Godfrey said. "And we will still have members in Vermillion, and we’ll provide membership opportunities to those members.”
(I'll bet she wasn't so pleasant during the process though! Chajoling, threatening, and vindictive are the words that come to my mind from my experiences. RA)
The prospects for healthcare reform may be chillier than DC weather, but Democrats in the House and Senate are turning their attention to another warmer but still significant national issue: the increasing number of runaway and throwaway youth who are being forced into prostitution. In response to the growing concerns that desperate, runaway teens will be forced into prostitution in a sluggish economy, Congress is pushing several bills to improve how runaway kids are tracked by the police, fund crucial social services, and prevent teens from being caught in sex trafficking. Here's the gist of what the new legislation is trying to accomplish:
