7,000 teachers working under expired SCS pact
Ask union leader Tikeila Rucker what guarantees a Shelby County Schools teacher’s pay, benefits or insurance won’t change in the next several months, and she’ll give you one word: “Faith.” Faith that district leaders won’t make changes at will — because they can.
The three-year memorandum of understanding between 7,000 teachers and the school district expired in March.
“We are operating under the good grace of superintendent at this time,” Rucker said.
The United Education Association, led by Rucker, and the Memphis Shelby County Education Association are in the process of drumming up support from teachers to allow the unions to go back to the table with SCS to create a new agreement. They tried once before, but couldn’t garner enough participation, citing technical difficulties with an email that went out asking for votes.
To give them more time, SCS Superintendent Dorsey Hopson agreed in a
letter not to make changes to working conditions dictated under the previous agreement.
“Although it expired, we will continue to be guided by the terms and conditions contained in it and do not anticipate any disruptions with daily operations,” Hopson’s email said.
But if the unions again fail to garner enough support, they will be at a crossroads. Hopson would have the power to make changes unilaterally to major elements of a teacher’s job.
Hopson cheered at rally
Rucker’s union had a rally Tuesday to engage teachers in the process of “collaborative conferencing,” the process that replaced collective bargaining with a change in state law in 2011.
Hopson was a welcomed guest, and the union gave him the chance to address the crowd.
About 50 teachers chanted and cheered as their boss made his way to the front of the school board auditorium, throwing in a subtle dance move as he came to the microphone.
“There’s always a great way to have teacher voice if you have strong representation,” Hopson told the crowd of teachers during a 10-minute speech.
He emphasized no endorsement of one union over the other, but said it was in teachers’ best interest to vote to come to the table.
“We make all these decisions that impact teachers, and you guys are on the front lines,” Hopson said, acknowledging the district hasn’t always sought feedback when making critical decisions.
Before his speech, when asked about the expired agreement, Hopson said his “commitment is to continue to operate in good faith.”
Any issue that’s come up since March, he said, he’s gone back to the original agreement for guidance, even though it’s no longer binding. District policies also back up much of what was in the agreement, he said.
He declined to speculate on what would happen if the unions can’t rally enough support to come back to the table.
“Obviously we want to have something more formal,” Hopson said.
51 percent of teachers have to vote
The first step in collaborative conferencing is for 15 percent of the 7,000 teachers to sign petitions saying they want a new agreement. Rucker announced Tuesday night that between the two unions, they reached that goal.
Once the district verifies the signatures on the petitions, at least 51 percent of teachers have to vote for one union or the other to represent them in conferencing.
Last October, ahead of the agreement’s expiration, the unions gathered enough signatures but only 41 percent of teachers voted in the online poll. Union leaders blamed timing — the email went out just before the holidays — and alleged the email arrived in teachers’ spam folders.
Assuming the district verifies the new petition signatures, an email will go out to teachers in early November to vote for one union or the other.
The vote determines the proportion of representatives from each union who will negotiate on everyone’s behalf. A total of seven to 11 teachers would be at the table.
Two unions instead of one
This would be the second time teachers have entered an agreement with SCS since the district merged with Memphis City Schools in 2013. The process took about a year last time, and the agreement took effect in March 2015.
This will be the first time, however, there are two unions at the table. The United Education Association of Shelby County formed about two years ago as an offshoot of the Tennessee Education Association.
Keith Williams, executive director of the Memphis Shelby County Education Association, said his union competes with the other group for members, but they have the same goals.
“We’ll be working for the same thing,” he said.
State law limits the issues that can be addressed through collaborative conferencing, but Williams said there’s still significant issues to tackle.
The district moved to a merit-based compensation plan instead of paying teachers for years of experience and advanced degrees. The unions want to reverse that.
“As of right now, we don’t know where people are on the salary schedule,” Williams said.
Despite the work that went into the current pay model, Hopson said he’s willing to have the conversation.
“We’ll come with an open mind,” he said.
Reach Jennifer Pignolet at jennifer. pignolet@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @JenPignolet.