By Haley Thomas, contributor
The Harrisonburg City School Board approved a collective bargaining resolution at its meeting Thursday amid strong reactions and continued disagreements between board members and members of the Harrisonburg Education Association (HEA).
The vote passed after a year of discussions between the school board and the HEA, the organization advocating for collective bargaining that is made up of educators across the city. School Superintendent Michael Richards has supported the collective bargaining effort. But differing opinions on the resolution’s specifics have prolonged and complicated the discussions about this measure, which will give teachers and school employees greater representation in negotiating salaries and benefits.
One specific sticking point has been what percentage of school employees must vote during the process to certify the collective bargaining agent — in this case the HEA — to negotiate on their behalf with the school district administration.
Under the original collective bargaining resolution proposal, an “employee association” could be certified as the exclusive representative of a bargaining unit if it received a majority of votes cast in a secret ballot election. But since then, board members have added new language to require at least 30% of employees within the bargaining unit to participate in the election for it to be considered valid. Board members have said this is to ensure that a small group isn’t making decisions for a large group that isn’t adequately represented.
HEA members spoke to the board during public comment to express their continued support for collective bargaining, but several of them called the 30% quorum “antidemocratic” and accused the board of implementing this threshold as a union-busting tactic.
Members cited concerns that the threshold could pose a significant barrier to union participation and that requiring a threshold of employees to vote in an election before it can be certified could discourage involvement from educators who may feel disenfranchised or hesitant to participate.
“I support a resolution for collective bargaining that has a democratic election, as written in the resolution given to [the board] by Dr. Richards in September,” said Glenda Leonard, a teacher at Waterman Elementary. “Not a threshold election, which is what you, the school board, are pushing to include. It should be my choice to decide to vote in an election, just like in all other elections organized in Harrisonburg. If a threshold is placed in this resolution, it takes away my voice in a vote if that threshold is not reached.”
Murphy Johnson, an instructional assistant at Bluestone Elementary and HEA member, also expressed their frustrations with the threshold.
“This type of vote would in essence count any abstentions from voting as ‘no’ votes until the threshold participation is met,” Johnson said. “This is not how elections work in this country. Voters have the choice of whether or not to vote at all, and the choice of whom to vote for or against. No one in this country is compelled to vote by threat of their abstention being counted as a vote in one direction or another.”
Waterman Elementary teacher and HEA member Ali Haverty called attention to the board’s own election process.
“The democratic process is one that every one of you board members participated in to become a board member and gain your seat at the table,” Haverty said. “You participated in a secret ballot election where the majority of votes determined the outcome. We employees just want the same process to get our seat at the table.”
Board members maintained their support for collective bargaining following public comment and addressed the HEA members’ concerns. Several said they felt as though both sides were “ready to get the vote over with.”
Board member Emma Phillips said she was disheartened by the tension between the board and the HEA.
“The process of collective bargaining is going to require cooperation and compromise and grace, and if I’m being totally honest, I haven’t felt an awful lot of that through this process,” Phillips said. “And despite that, I am absolutely ready to vote for this resolution because I know it’s the right thing to do.”
Phillips added that she understands why HEA did not want the 30% quorum requirement, but that she will advocate to ensure that enough educators participate in the process.
“I hear you all being angry and saying that you don’t think our employees are going to make that quorum, but it’s totally untrue,” Phillips said. “And to me, it feels like a really prime example of this ‘us versus them’ narrative, because the quorum is not serving as a blockade…I expect them to hit 75%, 85%, more than that. I genuinely hope that everyone participates in this really big decision that changes the way that we’re doing our business…and I sincerely hope HEA takes us up on this invitation to come to the table.”
Board member Deb Fitzgerald echoed Phillips’ sentiment and added that the board has never been against collective bargaining, and has in fact compromised with the HEA on many points.
“You have beliefs, really central beliefs, in what this [resolution] should include, and we do too,” Fitzgerald said. “This is the school board’s resolution, and it’s going to reflect some of our central core beliefs as well.”
The board passed the collective bargaining resolution as is, and now it’s up to the HEA to hold an election.
“I think that at this point, it’s most important that we mend whatever big feelings we’ve had on this on both sides, and we come together and have a very productive relationship,” Richards, the superintendent, said following the vote. “I appreciate the work that Cody Polk [HEA president] has done with me on the resolution. I appreciate the work the board has done, and I do want to reiterate that this board has been in good faith, supportive of collective bargaining throughout the process. And now that … we’ve got this resolution in place, I do hope the HEA takes up that invitation, gets elected as the exclusive representative, and we really go all out as the first division in the valley that has collective bargaining.”
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