DebateShould teachers and support personnel be in separate NEA locals?

YES
DEBBIE NASH has been a school secretary for four years at Brighton West Elementary School in Brighton, a rural town in southwest Illinois. She was a teacher aide in the district for 10 years prior. Nash took part in organizing the Southwestern ESP Association and is now its president.

My argument for separate locals representing teachers and education support personnel begins with their different interests.

The concerns of non-certified staff are often classification specific, requiring close, individual attention from union leaders.

In my local, we have 12 different classifications, each with their own issues. The bus situation, for example, is very complicated. We have a lot of bus driver language in our contract, and I spend much of my time as ESP president addressing these concerns.

Other issues--such as prohibition of subcontracting, prohibition of split workdays, health and safety language, and negotiated job descriptions--may not affect teachers, but they're very important to us.

Is it realistic to expect a large, wall-to-wall unit in which non-certified staff are a minority to make our unique ESP bargaining issues a priority?

In Illinois, we shun generic, boilerplate contracts. Instead, we have helped ESP locals, even very small ones, tailor collective bargaining agreements to address their specific concerns.

These locals--some with 25 or fewer members--have a track record of success.

One local that has only 20 members was faced with a management plan to subcontract the custodial staff. This local organized a community campaign that led management to drop their proposal.

Another small local, after 28 bargaining sessions for a first contract, brought local, state, and national attention to its drive for bargaining rights. With strong community support, this local achieved a first-class contract.

My second argument for separate locals is this: A combined bargaining unit has to continuously overcome the tendency for ESP members to lack confidence in their role.

The reality is that because of educational backgrounds and their roles in the school, many ESP may feel subservient or less important than teachers. As a result, ESP are often reluctant to present their ideas forcefully--even if they have a comparatively large membership, as we do. Our teacher's Association has 150 members, and we have 100.

As a separate unit, we develop our own local leadership with the expertise and skills we need to be effective. Members don't become passive dues payers. They grow and get involved.

We have the ability to stand tall on our own. We can build strong, independent Associations that can gain the respect of the administration and the school board.

In addition, most ESP are long- time residents of the district and are very influential in political matters. They are able to quickly organize and marshal votes. Therefore, legislators make themselves available and listen to their legislative concerns.

Although separate, we do strive to work together with fellow teacher locals, as equals, on a range of common concerns that may include bargaining.

We know our issues. We can achieve our objectives. With our own organization, we have a clear, strong voice.

NO
BILL REILLY has been involved in education since 1975. For the last 17 years, he's been an educational technician at Auburn Middle School in Auburn, Maine. Reilly has negotiated contracts for certified educators, paraprofessionals, and secretaries in the Auburn Education Association.

I believe education support personnel and certificated personnel can effectively work together for the common good of the entire organization. Each group may question whether the other side can understand their individual issues and give their group the needed support.

But let's look briefly at the history of the labor movement.

As labor first began organizing, trade associations formed around specific skills. But these trade organizations by themselves were not very successful.

As the different skilled groups within an industry joined together, they discovered that they became more powerful.

Because of the force of union numbers speaking with one voice, management had to listen, and eventually negotiated with the union.

In the Auburn Education Association, with a little more than 300 members, we have had one negotiating team for all bargaining units--teachers, secretaries, and "assistants"--since 1991.

It's working so well that recently, the bus drivers, custodians, and maintenance personnel, who are currently members of another union, approached the AEA to become another bargaining unit under our umbrella.

These people have observed the respect that our Association has earned.

They compare the way we are treated by management with the way they, as a small local, are treated.

They want to join with us because they feel that in unity with our Association, they will have more protection--that as a wall-to-wall Association, we will have more power.

Years ago, I was asked why I, a para, was negotiating for "teachers." My flippant response was, "I am good."

Since then, I've realized that I represent not just one classification but all members of the Association.

There's no difference between a teacher and an education support person when one is facing termination for disciplinary reasons.

Nor is there a difference when a member needs sick leave to care for a loved one.

Health benefits are a concern for all members. When a school committee attacks one bargaining unit's health benefits, it follows as surely as the sun rises in the east that the committee will seek the same reduction in benefits for every other unit in the system.

In short, there is more that unites us than divides us.

It has been said that a leader must have fire in the belly.

Leadership does not depend on our classification but on that fire. There are teachers who have it, and there are ESP who have it.

It does not matter what classification I am--if I'm facing a problem, I want someone in my corner who has that fire.

When the school committee recognizes that the local Association speaks for all of its members and for all bargaining units, it becomes increasingly difficult for that committee to play one unit against the other.

While we may be separate bargaining units, we all have the same employer.

Unity gives us power!