In Business Las Vegas, July 6th, 2007
The Teamsters Union, which wants to represent Clark County teachers, has seemed sincere in education discussions, said the leader of a powerful business group.
"I've had very positive discussions with members of the Teamsters with regards to the retooling of our current education system," said
Maureen
Peckman, director of Council
for a Better
Nevada
, a coalition of 24 Southern
Nevada
chief executives.
Any union that allows more autonomy in the school district would improve it, she said.
She gave credit to the Clark County Education Association, the current union: "I'm heartened that the CCEA did relax their current bargaining agreement (to accommodate the empowerment schools)," she said.
Education is an urgent concern for the council, because it predicts the stability of the state in upcoming years,
Peckman
said.
"We're at the threshold where if we make significant structural changes in the school district, it will change the course of direction for hundreds of thousands of kids in the next few years," she said. "We can leave it alone, make nips and tucks around the edges ... make largely cosmetic changes ... and in five years it will be almost too big to change."
Teamsters Local 14 — which announced June 28 it would try to represent teachers — is in favor of the empowerment school system, which gives school leaders more control over their domains.
The union, however, dislikes the system by which teachers effectively lost their jobs if they were turned away when their school turned empowerment, then were not picked up by other schools.
"You just don't negotiate away members' jobs," said
Gary
Mauger, secretary-treasurer
of Local 14.
Teamsters leaders aim to fight for better wages and benefits, but especially "a voice" with their representatives. They accused the CCEA of colluding with the School District and gaining raises that did not surpass inflation.
Vikki
Courtney, a CCEA executive board member
who attended the announcement, defended the association afterwards.
"We've decided it's more important for us to work together and cause things to happen in a positive way," she said. "I'm a realist."
She said that teachers may not understand what the CCEA has done for them, including preparation time in classrooms and pay raise discussions that start with the legislative appropriation. Negotiations underway now, for example, are starting at the 1.6 percent raise given by legislators, she said.
"There have been many things we've worked to get,"
Courtney
said. "Maybe they don't read their mail."
Teachers present at the June 28 announcement expressed frustration with their current union. A few had been following the Teamsters' intentions on
educator and union consultant, Ron
Taylor
.www.teachers4change.net, a site run by a prison
"I think the Teamsters is a strong union," said
Geri
Barnish, a Spanish teacher
at Bonanza High School who has been in the field for 18 years. "Is it perfect? I don't know. It's one option for a chance. (At the meeting) they allowed us a voice. This is the first time I've gone to any union meeting and been treated with respect."
The Teamsters planned to stand outside the CCEA headquarters and help teachers withdraw on July 2 and 3,
Mauger
said. July 1 through 15 is the two-week period during the year in which that is allowed. If membership falls below 50 percent, the school district can withdraw recognition of CCEA, though the Teamsters do not expect that will happen.
The union expects to challenge the CCEA in November 2008, when there is a window for a rival union to challenge the established one.
Teamsters Local 14, one of three Teamsters groups in the valley, mostly represents employees of
Las Vegas
suburbs. It is fighting in court an earlier filed bid to represent the support staff at the school district.
