A GROUP OF TEACHERS and staffers at Olney Charter High School yesterday filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board requesting the federal
agency conduct an election that would allow employees to become
unionized.
The filing included signed union authorization cards from Olney
employees and stated that the new union would be part of the Alliance of
Charter School Employees, an affiliate of the American Federation of
Teachers, according to the petition.
More than 70 percent of the 150-person staff signed on to the
effort, which may face a challenge from Olney’s charter operator, ASPIRA
Inc. of Pennsylvania.
The federal filing came one day after ASPIRA officials met, for the
first time, with Olney teachers who began the organizing effort three
years ago, organizers and teachers said. The ASPIRA officials - CEO
Alfredo Calderon, COO Thomas Darden and newly-hired superintendent
Andrea Gonzalez-Kerwin - told the teachers that they would not
voluntarily recognize the union, but would respect the results of an
election, participants said.
Darden did not respond to an email seeking comment.
An election could be held as soon as 30 days if no challenges are made by ASPIRA.
Calderon “said he would respect the wishes of the majority and I
asked him to recognize the union and he said no, he would respect the
outcome of an election,” said Hanako Franz, a freshman history teacher
who has been at Olney for four years.
English as a Second Language teacher Hannah Myers, who has been at
Olney for four years, said she believes Calderon and the others want to
drag out the process.
“It’s very hard for me to believe that he’s willing to work with us,”
she said. “If he really wanted to allocate resources to support our
community, they would voluntarily recognize the union, which has been
the majority for three years.”
The petition requests that a future union include “all full-time and
regular part-time professional and non-professional instructional and
student service support employees, including teachers, co-teachers,
psychologists” and other employees, according to the filing.
As Seattle prepares for the April launch of the highest minimum wage law in America, conservatives are warning that businesses are already shuttering under the pressure of higher labor costs and pointing to a recent report of a rash of restaurant closures as evidence. The problem is, the actual owners of those restaurants say that they’re not closing because of wages, and the city seems to be enjoying robust growth in that industry.
Labor history is rich with the contributions of women, and unions have historically stood up for women’s rights. As we celebrate Women’s History Month in March, we should recognize the incredible contributions that women have made to the labor movement and American history.
This week, Wisconsin kicked off a series of hearings on Governor Scott Walker’s proposed budget, which would slash about $300 million from the University of Wisconsin system over two years, funnel hundreds
of millions to build a pro-basketball stadium, and cut deeply from
funds for health care, food stamps and public media.
In his new book, Raising Kids Who Read, Daniel Willingham wants to be clear: There’s a big difference between teaching kids to read and teaching them to love reading.
And Willingham, a parent himself, doesn’t champion reading for the obvious reasons — not because research suggests that kids who read for pleasure do better in school and in life.
“The standard things you’ll hear about why kids should read I actually don’t think are very strong arguments,” he says. “Because if the goal is to become a good citizen or the goal is to make a lot of money, I can think of more direct ways to reach those goals than to read during your leisure time.”
Willingham wants his kids to love reading because, he says, “for me it’s a family value. It’s something that I love, something that I find important. I think I gain experiences I wouldn’t gain any other way by virtue of being a reader. And so naturally I want my children to experience that.”
Hoffman Construction , a major road building and mining company is abandoning Wisconsin because of the Right to Work legislation just passed. According to Duluth News Tribune “Hoffman said Monday …