Teachers unions on the rise again in New Orleans, 10 years after charters pushed them out
The room buzzed with excitement, and the audience was rewarded with a unanimous board acknowledgement of the union, putting the five-year old charter school onto a barely blazed trail.
Like most urban districts, teachers in the New Orleans Public Schools for decades worked under union-negotiated contracts. But after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, with devastated infrastructure and too few students, the school year was effectively cancelled and the city’s teachers were eventually laid off.
That set off a sweeping wrongful termination lawsuit on behalf of nearly 7,000 teachers that was dismissed by the Louisiana Supreme Court in October but still has a slight chance before the U.S. Supreme Court. With the state takeover of a majority of the district’s schools, and the eventual chartering of all but five city schools, collective bargaining essentially disappeared.
The move by the Morris Jeff board to establish a contract with the union is the second action by a city charter school in the past month that indicates teachers — and school operators — may be willing to give unions a role in education.
Broadly speaking, charters were envisioned as a way to free educators from following tightly scripted tradition and common practice in education, and that includes running a campus without unions. Still, unions are popping up at charter schools nationwide, though it’s by no means a swelling trend.
The American Federation of Teachers, one of the country’s two major teachers unions, said it has collective bargaining contracts with 213 charter schools. The National Education Association didn’t immediately respond to a request for precisely how many charters it’s involved with, but has indicated in previous reports that it represents hundreds more.
Three weeks ago, the United Teachers of New Orleans, AFT’s local affiliate, secured its first collective-bargaining contract of the past decade, at Benjamin Franklin High School.
“It is the first and only charter school in the state to have collective bargaining,” UTNO President Larry Carter said.
Franklin’s board unanimously approved the 25-page agreement. The highly rated charter high school, located on the University of New Orleans campus, requires students to test in and is overseen by the Orleans Parish School Board.
Franklin teachers began to organize about a year ago, after staff noticed discrepancies in their salaries.
Now the Morris Jeff teachers are right behind them, and seeking their guidance.
Third-grade teacher Rowan Shafer said she and her colleagues have talked with Benjamin Franklin staff.
“Mostly, we’re really looking forward to having open dialogue,” Shafer said.
Shafer was part of the group that first organized at Morris Jeff. The charter school actually was the first in the city to recognize a teacher’s association. That happened two years ago when the board recognized the Morris Jeff Association of Educators, but that group never negotiated a contract with the board.
Tuesday’s vote recognized that a majority of teachers petitioned to move to a new group, supported by the United Teachers of New Orleans (UTNO) and American Federation of Teachers (AFT). UTNO is the longstanding union that used to represent teachers before Teachers unions on the rise again in New Orleans, 10 years after charters pushed them out - The Hechinger Report:
