Management Relents
Charter School Now Under UFT Banner

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

A Queens charter school Jan. 23 agreed to recognize the United Federation of Teachers as the representative for its educators after initially hiring a major anti-union law firm to fight the organizing drive.

RANDI WEINGARTEN: Used leverage well.

More than 40 educators at the Merrick Academy Charter School will become UFT members after the school's board of trustees and the union reached an agreement at a meeting with the Public Employment Relations Board. Merrick is the ninth city charter school to unionize and the first successful one in the face of significant opposition by school management.

'Giant Step Forward'

"Today's agreement is a giant step forward in giving the educators at Merrick the voice and respect that they deserve," said UFT President Randi Weingarten in a statement. "We look forward to productive and expeditious negotiations for the Teachers' first contract."

Teachers at most of the city's 1,400-plus public schools are members of the UFT. Charter schools are publicly funded but are exempt from a host of city and state regulations. Charters that were not converted from a regular public school are also exempt from automatically going union.

Teachers at Merrick, which first opened in Queens Village in 2000, first contacted the union in October 2007. They were looking for a bigger voice in professional development decisions, a more open and accountable disciplinary system and improved health care and other benefits.

About 25 members showed up at the first meeting with the UFT, and by the end of October more than 80 percent of the 50 employees had signed cards asking the UFT to represent them. An organizing committee was formed which included new Teachers as well as those who had been at the school since it opened eight years ago.

School Board Balked

On Nov. 5 the UFT notified the Merrick board of the Teachers' desire for union representation. Merrick then had 30 days to respond, according to city labor law, which it failed to do. On Dec. 6 the UFT filed a petition with PERB requesting that it certify the fact that a majority of Teachers wanted a union.

Under city law, if more than half of the employees at a workplace signs cards, the union can petition for recognition. If between 30 and 50 percent of eligible employees sign up, an election is triggered.

On Dec. 10 the Merrick board of trustees met and voted unanimously to hire the nationally renowned "labor avoidance" firm Jackson Lewis.

The following week Teachers began reporting that they were being called into one-on-one meetings with administrators and that they were excluded from a school board meeting, which is by agreement open to all employees and the school community.

Ms. Weingarten contacted the State University of New York Board of Trustees, which oversees and grants half the state's school charters, including Merrick's, to alert it to what she believed were potentially unfair labor practices by the school. She also wrote to the Merrick trustees and contacted local elected officials.

'More-Collaborative Tone'

On Dec. 21 PERB set a pre-hearing conference meeting for Jan. 23. In the meantime the union reached out to Merrick board members to try and set a more collaborative tone. At the conference last week, the Merrick board did not object to the fact that there was sufficient showing of interest in the union. The school instead questioned the composition of the unit, and the two sides reached an agreement that only educators, including student mentors and teacher consultants, would be part of the bargaining unit.

There are no longer disputes over unionization between the board and the UFT, and PERB will most likely meet in February to certify the judge's findings and the union.

Union officials said the next step is to begin discussions on a contract for the new UFT members.