Carmen teachers seeking to unionize
Teaching staff at Carmen Schools of Science and Technology — a group of six charter schools in Milwaukee — are attempting to unionize, and CEO Jennifer Lopez says she won’t stand in their way.
If successful, organizers believe they will be the first to unionize an independent charter school in Wisconsin.
While authorized to operate by the school board of Milwaukee Public Schools, Carmen Schools are independently run by Lopez and a board of directors. Known as “non-instrumentality” charter schools, staff at these types of schools are not part of the union for MPS staff, the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association.
Staff want higher salaries, workloads capped at 40 hours
Staff working to organize the union said they want to pursue higher salaries, workloads capped at 40 hours per week, more staff and student input in administrative decisions, and better support for a more diverse workforce, among other priorities.
“I see so many passionate, dedicated, and excellent Carmen staff come and go,” Carmen Southeast High School teacher Leland Pan said in a news release. “Our students deserve experienced and highly qualified workers from a range of backgrounds and identities.”
Pan said when comparing salaries, benefits and work hours to MPS schools, Carmen “is contributing to a race to the bottom for employee conditions.”
The union for Carmen staff, called the Carmen Workers Collective, would be part of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. While the IAMAW started in 1888 for railroad mechanics, it has grown to represent workers in a range of fields, including locally the Milwaukee Art Museum Workers — a publicized bid that was supported by former Mayor Tom Barrett.
Carmen’s teachers worried about ‘massive turnover’
Carmen staff started talking with an IAMAW organizer about a year ago and publicly announced their campaign this week. Organizers are asking the nearly 200 teachers, social workers and specialists of Carmen Schools to sign union authorization cards.
Alex Hoekstra, an IAMAW representative working with the Carmen staff, said the group has met with teachers several days this week. He said staff are worried about “massive, concerning turnover” as teachers leave for better pay and conditions.
“Something is truly broken there and unless something is done, the education opportunities are not going to improve,” Hoekstra said.
Unlike teachers’ unions at most public schools (those governed by school boards), unions for staff at independent charter schools are not bound by the limitations of Wisconsin’s Act 10, Hoekstra said, allowing them to bargain on a range of issues including pay, benefits and working conditions.
If a majority of staff sign cards in support of the union, organizers said they will then file for an election with the National Labor Relations Board. If a majority of workers vote in support of the union in that election, the bid will be successful and administrators will have to negotiate a contract with union representatives.
The effort at Carmen comes during a swell of interest in unionization, Hoekstra said, wrought in part by the pandemic’s strain on workers who, with their labor in higher demand, have decided to organize.
“Right now we’re seeing the most interest we’ve ever seen and the most need for it that we’ve ever seen,” Hoekstra said.
Demand for teachers and other staff members in schools has been severe across the state, with districts scrambling to find substitutes for long-standing vacancies.
Carmen’s CEO supports teachers’ attempt to unionize
The Collective has asked community members to sign a petition calling on Lopez to commit to “neutrality” as staff decide whether to form a union.
Lopez, in a statement Friday, said she respected staff members’ rights to consider unionizing.
“We support the rights of our teachers and staff to individually choose whether to unionize,” Lopez said in her statement. “We believe each individual should have the opportunity to make a fully informed, personal choice about this important issue.”