IEA - A Bargaining Team of 50 Union Members Rocks Their District

This is, as they say, a true story.

One of our local unions had been at the bargaining table since July. They were bargaining their first contract since being voted in the prior year. They had made progress on the basic boilerplate language you see in every contract, but when it came to finances, things ground to a halt. In fact, they were often called liars by their administration for telling their stories about being spit at in the face by students and worse. At the table, the district’s lawyer continually dismissed their concerns and belittled them as professionals. Clearly, management did not see them as equals.

So, before one evening’s scheduled bargaining session, the leadership sent out a “HELP WANTED” email to everyone they had email addresses for (about 60% of their folks). They “wanted help” from their coworkers, pleading with them to show up to bargaining and tell their stories to the administration. “We would have been thrilled with 20 people,” a member of the bargaining committee told me. When 50 of their closest friends and colleagues showed up, the effect on the management bargaining team was immediate.

The district and its lawyer hunkered down in their offices and refused to come out and hear their employees back up their bargaining team. Some of the union folks who showed up even voted against the union when it was voted in. “They were so upset at the rudeness of the district, they made us wait 45 minutes like usual, and they wouldn’t come out and talk to us. Our members finally understood what we had been trying to tell them about the district.”

This show of force was an especially big deal because this group of employees is scattered over a huge area and they rarely interact with each other, so to get 50 people in one place at once had a huge effect on those who showed. “Afterwards, they went to a bunch of restaurants to talk about what had happened to them, and people were really talking it up in all the buildings later,” said the bargainer.

I asked what would draw out so many isolated, disrespected workers on evening when they could be at home with their families.

It turns out that so many folks showed up that night was because the bargaining team told them that the union was working on their salary, and that the district had repeatedly said the members weren’t worth it. Since that evening, the union has signed up more members than ever, and the union is preparing to go to Federal Mediation to settle its first contract.

This is what happens when you organize. People find out how their direct personal concerns are impacted by the union’s efforts. They connect on that level. They respond. They value the hard, often frustrating work of bargaining a contract (especially a first contract), and will do what they can to support you.