Teachers approve CMNEA representation

Jenese Silvey does a good job of explaining CMNEA's victory in historical context.  This is a great victory for Columbia teachers and the students they teach.


http://www.columbiatribune.com/photos/2012/oct/12/47297/
Columbia Public Schools teachers and supporters cheer Thursday at a watch party at Coley’s American Bistro as they learn the majority of teachers voted to allow the Columbia Missouri National Education Association to be the exclusive representative to bargain on behalf of all school district teachers.


Columbia Tribune
By JANESE SILVEY
Published October 11, 2012 at 7:42 p.m.
Updated October 12, 2012 at 2 p.m.

Columbia Public Schools teachers yesterday elected the Columbia Missouri National Education Association as the exclusive representative to bargain on behalf of all teachers, a decision that caps a debate that has spanned more than five years.

"I'm very pleased," a teary Laurie Spate-Smith, former president of the Columbia Missouri National Education Association, or CMNEA, said after finding out the results. "We're proud to represent all teachers and to do what's best for kids."

She joined about 25 other members gathered at Coley's American Bistro on Sixth Street to await word of the results. The group erupted into cheers when CMNEA President Susan McClintic delivered the message.

Of 1,311 eligible voters, 933 cast ballots at 27 polling sites across the district. Of those, 520 voted to endorse CMNEA, representing 55.7 percent of the vote, Superintendent Chris Belcher announced after members of the League of Women Voters counted the ballots.

Had the vote gone the other way, the district would have kept its informal "meet-and-confer" system that lets CMNEA and the Columbia Missouri State Teachers Association share representation.

"I'd hoped for a different result," said Kari Schuster, CMSTA president. "We'll move forward and continue to serve our members and those unaffiliated."

About 700 of the 1,311 teachers eligible to vote are CMNEA members, McClintic said. Schuster declined to say how many members CMSTA has.

McClintic said the next step is to survey all teachers about how to proceed.

The vote means the Columbia Board of Education and school district must formally work with CMNEA on all decisions regarding compensation and working conditions. The school board can reject, modify or accept anything CMNEA recommends, Belcher said.

It also makes CMNEA the district's teacher representative indefinitely, although teachers could call for another election in the future.

The board has been haggling over how to hold an election for a year and in January approved policies that paved the way for yesterday's vote.

Although the organization doesn't believe in exclusive representation, CMSTA, formerly known as the Columbia Community Teachers Association, enjoyed being the sole voice of Columbia teachers for years. Administrators at the time considered the group the "professional body representing teachers" through the informal meet-and-confer process. CMNEA members grumbled about not having a chance to participate at board meetings but were mostly ignored.

That changed in 2007 when the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that the Independence chapter of MNEA had the right to collective bargaining. The 5-2 ruling overturned a 1947 decision that interpreted a constitutional right to collective bargaining as only applying to private-sector employees.

By the end of that year, Spate-Smith was calling for an election in Columbia. Administrators asked for time to let Missouri lawmakers provide guidance on the court ruling, but that never happened.

The next year, CCTA attempted to include CMNEA members in discussions by forming one group, the Columbia Public Schools Employees Organization, that everyone could belong to, and the school board agreed to recognize both CPSEO and CMNEA. By 2010, the two groups still had not been able to see eye to eye philosophically, and CPSEO became Columbia's MSTA.

Before learning the results of yesterday's vote, Schuster said much will depend on "how CMNEA approaches collective bargaining and how receptive the Board of Education is to that approach."

In other districts where NEA chapters have gained control, "the end attempt is to shut out other teachers' groups and exclude them from all-district events," said Charles Brooks, MSTA's manager of Community Teachers Associations organizing.

McClintic said that won't happen.

"We're pleased with the democratic process," she said, adding that teachers "have spoken, and we look forward to representing all of them."
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A LONG ROAD

May 2007: A Missouri Supreme Court ruling gives teachers and other public-sector employees the right to collective bargaining.

December 2007: The Columbia chapter of the National Education Association asks for a 2008 election to let teachers decide on professional representation. Administrators ask for time to let the General Assembly provide guidance.

October 2008: The Columbia Community Teachers Association forms the Columbia Public Schools Employees Organization in hopes of allowing both entities to have a seat at the bargaining table. The Columbia Board of Education soon agrees to recognize CPSEO and the Columbia Missouri National Education Association. The groups are supposed to work together.

April 2010: The president of the now-defunct CPSEO tells board members attempts to cooperate were not successful because of differing ideas about collective bargaining. CPSEO is now the Columbia Missouri State Teachers Association.

April 2011: Board members face mounting pressure to develop bargaining policies. The Missouri School Boards’ Association urges adoption of local policies because lawmakers failed to draft guidelines. The Columbia school board spends the rest of the year debating proposed policies.

January: The school board approves two collective-bargaining policies outlining the process and allowing for exclusive representation.

September: The district sets an election date, allowing teachers to vote for CMNEA to exclusively represent them or for the district to continue to use an informal “meet-and-confer” model.

October: Teachers elect CMNEA as the exclusive representative.

Reach Janese Silvey at 573-815-1705 or e-mail jsilvey@columbiatribune.com.

This article was published on page A1 of the Friday, October 12, 2012 edition of The Columbia Daily Tribune with the headline "Teachers vote on union: CMNEA chosen as sole representative."