Open Letter to the Union Organizing Committee at UNO Schools

Dear Sirs and Madames, Your concerns about my communications with United Neighborhood Organization charter school teachers are duly noted. However, since you are not, as yet, certified as the collective bargaining representative of UNO charter teachers, it is presumptuous of you to speak on their behalf at this time. Therefore, I will continue to contact...

Dear Sirs and Madames,

Your concerns about my communications with United Neighborhood Organization charter school teachers are duly noted. However, since you are not, as yet, certified as the collective bargaining representative of UNO charter teachers, it is presumptuous of you to speak on their behalf at this time. Therefore, I will continue to contact UNO teachers if I have information that I believe will be of value to them, just as I am sure you will continue to make the case that joining your union is in their best interests. Frank and open discussion is the American way, after all.

Another important part of the American way is the use of secret-ballot elections for many important decisions, including choosing a president, changing the state constitution or selecting a union.

While you allege that my earlier “Advisory for UNO Teachers” contains “egregious errors,” I am quite puzzled as to what “errors” you are referring to. We are apparently in agreement that unionization “will have deep and lasting effects,” that unionization is a decision that should ultimately be made by teachers, and that teachers are well advised to read union documents carefully and not sign a union authorization card unless they are sure that they want union representation.

My letter goes on to warn that teachers cannot be certain that they will have a secret-ballot vote on unionization, that the UNO administration may choose to recognize AFT Local 4343 based on a “card check,” and that the card check process is an unreliable gauge of union support and prone to abuse. There is nothing in your letter saying that any of this is incorrect.

To be fair, I am not aware of any deception or harassment having taken place at UNO schools, and hopefully that will remain the case. But fraud and abuse have been found in other card-check campaigns. (Among other things, congressional testimony describing abuse during card check was a factor in the ultimate rejection of the Employee Free Choice Act.) Because workers have no guarantee of privacy in making their choice to unionize or not, and because a signed card counts no matter how it was procured,  there will be a strong temptation for union representatives to resort to deceptive or harassing tactics if honest persuasion proves ineffective. I can understand your being sensitive about this, but a caution is not the same as an accusation.

Finally, you indicate that teachers at UNO are already aware of the agreement between UNO and AFT Local 4343, and that it is somehow patronizing for me to remind them of something they already know. But while it would appear that UNO management does not object to your efforts, you are not entitled to monopolize the debate over unionization in their charter school system. I will leave it to UNO teachers to decide which is more offensive: a friendly reminder of an agreement between UNO and a union, or said union presuming to represent them before the union has presented the requisite number of signed authorization cards, let alone won a fair secret-ballot union representation election.

If you are as confident as you claim to be that UNO teachers support your union, why not have a secret-ballot vote and remove all doubt?

Cordially,

Paul Kersey
Director of Labor Policy