A Voice of Their Own

Pennsylvania affiliate organizes 3,000 new support professionals.

But this bargain employee has just gained her own bargaining power, over concerns such as "respect, money, and job demands" that have long haunted her 296 education support professional colleagues. Paolucci's the first president of a brand-new NEA local affiliate, Colonial IU 20 ESP/PSEA, born June 9 when "IU 20" ESPs voted by 73 percent for representation by the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA).

Support professionals such as Paolucci are writing a new labor history chapter in Pennsylvania, a state with a strong union tradition. Since April 2002, ESPs have voted for PSEA representation in 28 of 29 union elections, bringing a potential of 3,000 new members to NEA.

Ask PSEA organizers and they'll tell you what's happening is not exactly new. PSEA has just given new life to an old philosophy: The strongest union is built by members themselves, and their bargaining power comes through "wall-to-wall" membership in every work site.

How is this philosophy becoming practice?

Maximum Involvement. If you want Association recognition in the Keystone State, you join a large, active ESP organizing committee and work very hard for it, say members. While PSEA provides coordination, training, and research, "we insist on person-to-person organizing; it's ESPs who are doing this, not paid staff," stresses PSEA external organizing director Joe Bugden. "We won't start a campaign unless 10 percent of the unit is on the organizing committee."

In IU 20, which spans 95 work sites in three counties, ESPs formed two regional committees that organized, often independently of each another, in the face of management resistance to unionization.

Employee Voices. PSEA encourages Pennsylvania's 10,000 unorganized ESPs to define their own concerns. Roe Paolucci did just that during a pre-election employee "grievance" meeting with a top administrator, noting that she had been required to attend after-work meetings at another school, a 60-mile drive, without pay or mileage reimbursement.

"I got my time and my travel pay at that meeting," she proudly recalls. Now Paolucci and her fellow local members are defining their issues in a more systematic way: on a PSEA bargaining survey.

And when it comes to the issues, PSEA staff organizers have heard it all. While the typical unorganized ESP may be satisfied with her work, she's still an "at-will" employee who can be terminated without cause. Her pay or health benefits may be substandard. Her superintendent might be clueless about the so-called No Child Left Behind law's "highly qualified" standards for paraeducators. Her district's policies for ESPs are probably unwritten and inconsistent. And the respect she receives as a professional is usually pretty sparse.

Collegial Support.  When it comes to ESP organizing, the respect and support is there from existing PSEA ESP and teacher locals. A statewide cadre of ESP local leaders assists organizing committees, while teachers routinely back ESP campaigns in their districts by wearing PSEA buttons, putting out the union message on school bulletin boards, and even writing personal letters to ESP co-workers.

"Our teacher rep council was very supportive" of the IU 20 campaign, reports remedial math teacher Elaine King, president of the Colonial IU 20 Education Association. "We always wanted the support staff to organize, from year one! We urged them to go to recruitment meetings, we turned over support staff names to PSEA, and we talked to everyone with whom we came in contact."

IU 20 teachers are "thrilled" about the ESPs' election win, King concludes. "Our ESPs are truly professional and should be part of this union. They're entitled to more than they get for how hard they work to support our program."

—Dave Winans

More ESP stories in this issue:

• Michigan ESPs stop privatization of custodial work
• Georgia local wins fear-free ESP grievance procedure 
• Illinois local keeps transportation services in-house
• Coming in January: a day in the life of a cafeteria worker!