St. Louis Schools Watch
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Union Busting
By Susan Turk
August 10, 2018—St. Louis--As The Watch reported last month, AFT Local 420 is engaged in a dispute with SLPS Superintendent Dr. Kelvin Adams regarding violations of their contract with the district. Some teachers and non-certificated staff are being paid more than others with the same or greater seniority in violation of the salary schedule. The dispute is headed towards arbitration with a meeting scheduled for August 29th.
Apparently, Dr. Adams would like to resolve this without the assistance of an arbitrator. Our usually phlegmatic superintendent has initiated a game of hardball. Officers of the union, its president and VP as well as an organizer, are still SLPS employees and are paid by SLPS. Since they work for the union, their salaries are reimbursed to the district by the union on an annual basis. There was an understanding that the reimbursement would be made annually at the end of the school year. As staff were cut due to declining enrollment, 420’s finances were impacted and the union fell behind in payment by one year. After Sally Topping was elected president in 2017, a new payment agreement was approved and the union began to make up for what it owed.
On Tuesday, July 28th, Local 420 received a letter from the district informing them that they had 3 days, or until Friday, July 31st to repay $138,000 due to “costs of litigation” and that the rest of the money owed, $101,000 would have to be paid in full by August 31st or the three union administrators whose salaries were affected would have to return to teaching positions as of Monday, August 6th.
Since very few teachers work during June and none during July, Local 420 does not accumulate revenue in the form of union dues during the summer. There was no way Local 420 could amass the required payment on 3 days’ notice, so Local 420 President Sally Topping reported for her teaching assignment to Herzog Elementary on Monday morning, August 6th. Local 420 VP Ray Cummings reported to the Fresh Start program at Sumner HS and Field Representative John Whisenhunt reported to Gateway STEM HS.
At 7 AM Monday morning, August 6th, Local 420 President Sally Topping held a press conference in front of Herzog Elementary School and said,
“Good Morning.
As many of you know the partnership between employees and management has led to good outcomes in the St. Louis Public Schools. Including the peer mentoring program - the St. Louis Plan, expansion of Early Childhood Education, forgoing raises for years and working together to pass Proposition One, the first tax increase for schools in 25 years. US Secretary of Education Duncan praised this remarkable partnership.
I don't like saying this but it seems there are forces trying to break up our successful collaboration between labor and management.
After being alerted by our members we did research and gathered data on salary variations and presented our concerns to management regarding wild salary disparities and discrepancies - we filed a grievance. Suffice to say there has not been a positive response. With no satisfactory explanation, progress, or effort to make employees whole - without dismissing the grievance - we have proceeded.
Management now has attempted to intimidate and retaliate against employees who were part of that grievance. An initial arbitration hearing on the grievance is set for August 29th.
Past practice and policy agreement allows for union staff and officials to be on leave from the district . . . with the district being reimbursed at year's end by the local.
Today myself and two of our staff members are being sent back into the classroom.
Our partnership is threatened by those who can't even understand that we don't look at being in the classroom as punishment. It just makes it harder to represent our members working twice as hard. …. I am here to say we will not be intimidated and we will stand together to fix this broken salary schedule and be fair to our members.
We want respect and we intend to get it.” Then she retreated into Herzog to begin preparing for the start of school next week.
In a prèss release Topping further elaborated, “I hate to say it but that partnership is in jeopardy over serious salary disparities and a lack of a coherent salary schedule.” Topping said, “Take a look at these two examples of actual teachers in the district: “A” is a certificated teacher with a BA and 2 years of employment with a salary of $50,653.18 and another Middle School Mathematics Teacher - Employee: “B” a certificated teacher with a BA and 16 years of employment with a salary of $46,402.02. Employee B with 14 years more experience makes $4,251.16 less.”
The salary schedule negotiated in the contract between the district and the union relies on seniority. Even non- unionized districts base their salary schedules on seniority because of the expectation of fairness in the dispensation of public funds. Hundreds of disparities potentially impacting nearly a thousand employees, both certificated teachers, as well as, non-certificated employees, were found. Extra pay can be earned by coaching teams or taking on other after-school responsibilities, but the large disparities found involve staff who were not being compensated for extra service rendered.
For the administration to unilaterally violate the contract is a serious matter. Unilaterally nullifying the contract directly challenges the union’s ability to meaningfully represent its members. This is a standard method of union busting. If the union cannot get pay equity for its members there is little reason for a union to exist.
Given that Dr. Adams and the SAB are currently and quietly working to develop a private non-profit corporation which will govern half the SLPS beginning the 2019-2020 school year and parcel out school management to charter operators, this unfortunate game of hardball makes sense. Charter schools are rarely unionized. It would be difficult to find charter operators willing to take charge of schools with a unionized teaching staff.
Meanwhile employee raises are still frozen. This is going to impact our students and our schools. Employee turnover is a problem which does not need to get worse.
How and when this will be resolved remains to be seen.
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Legislature News
Lakeysha Bosley won the primary for the 79th House District in the MO Legislature August 7th. It’s wonderful that a strong supporter of the SLPS and the elected school board is the Democratic nominee for that House seat.
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The editor encourages readers to forward The Watch to anyone you think would be interested. Our city and our schools need as much public awareness and public engagement as we can muster at this time.
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Questions for The Watch? Letters to the Editor? Stories to contribute? News tips? Send them to SLS_Watch@yahoo.com
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Calendar
August 14, 2018 Tuesday, first day of school
August 16, 2018, Thursday, irregular monthly meeting of the Special Administrative Board, 6:00 p.m., 801 N. 11th Street, room 108
August 28, 2018, Tuesday, regular monthly meeting of the Board of Education, Metro H.S., 4015 McPherson Avenue. St. Louis, 63108, 6:30 p.m.
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