‘WE HAVE A VOICE’
TEACHERS UNIONS ACROSS VIRGINIA FOUND NEW ENERGY IN THE PANDEMIC. NOW THEY WANT COLLECTIVE BARGAINING.
HAMPTON — Jennifer Menzel had never been much of a union supporter.
When the district unveiled a reopening plan in October, the longtime Hampton High School teacher was frustrated with the plan and the stance she saw the Hampton Education Association taking. She snapped at a representative on Facebook and left an angry post on the HEA page.
But the HEA president messaged Menzel and asked about her concerns. Soon, she was participating in protests and meetings with the superintendent.
“I have no idea really how that happened, but here I am and I’m glad,” Menzel said. “It’s been a steep learning curve, but it’s been kind of revitalizing.”
The pandemic and ensuing debates were a shot in the arm for Peninsula chapters of the Virginia Education Association. Unlike teacher unions in most other states, Virginia unions have had limited ability to influence school district decisions, thanks to a ban on public sector collective bargaining.
Reopening debates brought new attention to teacher’s unions. And with a change in state law, school boards can vote starting May 1 to allow unions to bargain for a contract.
Peninsula educators say they are gearing up — to deal with school boards and to rally educators not used to bargaining.
“We are the anomaly. We are the exception,” said Brian Teucke, president of the Gloucester Education Association and Virginia Education Association’s District P, which covers the Peninsula. “Our students and our community and our workers deserve better.”
There’s little indication that Peninsula districts will immediately grant collective bargaining rights to employees. Hampton plans to use next school year as a “planning year,” spending about $75,000 to research the issue, train staff, meet with union leaders and see how bargaining unfolds in other school divisions.
The Newport News School Board hasn’t addressed the issue publicly. Teucke and other organizers think they have at least some support on the board.
The Newport News Education Association received a prominent endorsement from United Steelworkers Local 8888. The union, which represents over 13,000 shipyard workers, is one of the largest in the region.
“Some of these school board members would just waive the flag during budget time and push for meager raises, and that was good enough to win the support of the local union,” Teucke said. “That time has come and gone.”
At the same time, Teucke and other educators across the state are also pressuring the VEA.
In fall of 2019, a group of Virginia educators started VCORE, the Virginia Caucus and Rank-and-file Educators. They are modelled after CORE in Chicago, a leftwing group that helped push the Chicago Teachers Union toward a strike in 2012.
VCORE has started local chapters in Richmond and Hampton Roads that are focused on training unions to organize from the bottom-up, Teucke said. After years without collective bargaining rights, the VEA isn’t as focused on local organizing the way VCORE wants educators to be.
“I think that’s what sets VCORE apart from other educational organizations — that we’re bottom-up,” Teucke said. “We’re not a top-down organization.”
Teachers involved with organizing campaigns on the Peninsula say they have a number of priorities in contracts. One of those is pay — Virginia ranks 33rd in the country for teacher pay, according to 2018-19 numbers from the National Education Association.
School boards determine salaries. If unions are allowed to collectively bargain, it’d add another layer to salary negotiations. Menzel, also a VEA delegate, says outlining salaries and raises in a contract would attract teachers to school districts.
“At least with collective bargaining, it doesn’t mean that our pay is just left up to voting entities and we have absolutely no say in the matter,” Menzel said. “We have a voice in that, which we haven’t had much of up until now.”
Proponents also say collective bargaining would give them more say about working conditions, a major issue for teacher unions in the pandemic. Unions in Hampton and Newport News held several protests and pushed back after school districts announced reopening plans in fall.
But their influence in the process was limited. They don’t have the power of unions in places such as Washington and New York City.
“It gives us more of a voice to be able to say what it is, as teachers, we will and will not do, to protect our time and our ability to do our job as teachers,” said NNEA member Conor Collins.
Collins, a teacher at Warwick High School, says one of the most important issues for him is protecting teacher planning time, periods during the school day when they have time to grade papers and catch up on lesson planning.
In the past six months, Collins said he’s seen the union get more energized. Teachers he works with who were on the sidelines have started asking more questions about the union and collective bargaining.
“It would be surprising if we don’t get collective bargaining in Newport News,” Collins said. “But it’s still going to be an effort.”