Successful Petaluma strike lands teachers contract four months later
LOCAL 1881
Nearly four months after hundreds of teachers and other certificated employees in Petaluma City Schools walked picket lines on May 24 to protest the administration’s unfair labor practices and policies harmful to quality education, the union won a contract on September 18.
“The regressive bargaining of the administration, in which they repudiated a class size limit that we had already agreed to, was the last straw,” said Sandra Larsen, president of the Petaluma Federation of Teachers. “Increasing class sizes is not the way to achieve a quality education in Petaluma schools.”
Larsen reported that 94 percent of teachers went out on strike on May 24. Since then, Petaluma teachers have been “working to rule” and the union visited all worksites in the district. “We’re strong and the district knows we mean business,” Larsen concluded.
High school science teacher Lee Boyes said she participated in the strike to encourage fair labor practices. Boyes wanted to move forward this school year “with a better environment for teaching and learning.”
No classes were held at most sites, while students were brought together in large groups, tended by substitutes. Many parents walked the strong picket lines in support of the teachers and came to a noon rally with their children.
Teachers were clear about why they were picketing. “I’m sick and tired of this toxic environment created by 16 months of minimal negotiation progress, lack of respect, and all the unfair labor practices that feel intentional and mean-spirited,” said Elyse Vossburg, a speech therapist.
Said elementary Spanish teacher Jennie Eubank, “We need to act now or we can expect this same negative experience throughout all our future negotiations.”
Members of Local 1881 were joined at a spirited rally in front of the district administration offices and a march to Walnut Park by parents, community supporters and members of other unions.
This was the first walkout the Petaluma Federation has staged since its founding in 1969.
LOCAL 4986
The Sacramento Jobs Corps Union got
more good news when the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the
lower court’s decision that its employer had violated the
National Labor Relations Act when it banned the union president
from the training center and refused to hire five incumbent
employees to avoid bargaining with the union. The local received
pro bono support from AFL-CIO Legal Department.
LOCAL 61
United Educators of San Francisco is
boosting member activism and parent outreach during its contract
campaign. The union visited 69 sites in the district and is
posting member support photos from worksites on Facebook.
LOCAL 3467
The El Rancho Federation of
Teachers expanded its union strength when it
welcomed previously unrepresented mental health workers and
program specialists into its unit before bargaining a new salary
structure to benefit all.
LOCAL 1966
A team of UC-AFT Riverside librarians
met with library administrators to negotiate the effects of a
planned reorganization and reached an agreement that provides
notice for changes in work location, preserves the right to
negotiate over unforeseen effects of the reorganization, and
retains work within the bargaining unit.