DFT Exec Board Puts President Conn on Trial Monday
Very unfortunately, Ivy Bailey and the other members of the DFT Executive Board have decided to put me on trial on internal union misconduct charges. They are planning to hold the trial this Monday morning, August 3, at 115 West Willis St., the DAEOE (DPS Secretaries) union hall.
This is a huge distraction for our union, as well as extremely divisive and dangerous. We are at a key turning point in rebuilding the power of the DFT, and especially with the fight now to defend our health care and pay against assaults by the governor and his emergency manager, this trial will only serve the purposes of our enemies.
I know that many, many of you will be as upset as I am at this news, and I would like to offer my time to talk with you at 9 am this Monday morning at the location above, before the trial begins.
I am still hopeful that, even at this late hour, we may be able to reach a settlement – especially if you and other members are willing to help us early Monday morning.
You may also want to read my fuller statement about this situation posted on the DFT website a few weeks ago.
Steve Conn
DFT President
313.303.1996
DFT’s Conn goes to union trial on misconduct charge
Detroit — Detroit Federation of Teachers president Steve Conn went on trial Monday on internal charges of union misconduct.
Union executive vice president Ivy Bailey first announced the charges in a June 25 letter to members on the DFT website.
About 50 teachers showed up outside the office of the Detroit Association of Education Office Employees, 115 W. Willis, where the proceedings were being held. Conn had urged supporters to show up.
The union members were denied entrance to the hearing, and police were called.
“I know that many, many of you will be as upset as I am at this news, and I would like to offer my time to talk with you … this Monday morning at the location above, before the trial begins,” Conn wrote in a message posted on the DFT website. “I am still hopeful that, even at this late hour, we may be able to reach a settlement — especially if you and other members are willing to help us early Monday morning.”
But Bailey contends the trial is proceeding because Conn failed to attend a meeting she requested.
“Many members have brought forth serious charges against DFT President Steve Conn,” she wrote in an undated follow-up message titled “Monday’s trial” to members on the DFT website. “The constitution and bylaws require me to attempt to resolve the matter through an informal conference. Steve Conn chose to not attend the conference. After Conn failed to show up for the hearing, the matter was referred to the elected executive board, as required by the constitution and bylaws. The executive board unanimously voted to go forward with the charges.”
Conn steadfastly maintains it is an ongoing effort to unseat him, calling the trial a “kangaroo court.”
“The accusations against me by the executive board are baseless and false to the core,” Conn said in a statement. “This is nothing but a political attack on my leadership by the remnants of the old defeated leadership of the DFT. They lost at the ballot box; so now they are trying to win with a coup.”
He continues saying the DFT executive board opponents do not have a strategy for the union and its members, other than “resurrecting the losing ideas of my predecessor about cooperating with the governor’s emergency manager as he methodically dismantles Detroit’s public schools.”
The charges against Conn, outlined in the June 25 message to members, allege violations of the DFT constitution and bylaws and conduct detrimental to the union.
“The members charge that President Conn has attempted to cancel regular meetings and has failed to preside over them; has improperly called ‘special mass meetings’; and has conducted meetings without agendas, without allowing members to speak, and without proper and valid votes,” Bailey wrote. “It is charged that he has permitted the DFT to become affiliated with BAMN without authorization from the members or executive board. It is charged that he has permitted members to be threatened and abused at meetings and that when a member was physically assaulted (an assault captured in a surveillance video and now the subject of a criminal charge) he refused to take action against the attacker, but instead publicly and libelously blamed the victim. It is charged that he has failed to pay the Union’s per capita dues to the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and AFT Michigan.
“The Executive Board and myself have received numerous complaints, that we have a duty to respond to. We hope for a successful resolution which is in the interest of the members of the DFT and the students in the Detroit Public Schools.”
In a statement, Conn countered that he still has not been allowed to see anything beyond Bailey’s summary of the charges against him.
“That is just one of many blatant constitutional and procedural violations, he said in the statement. “The executive board is completely unfit to act as a jury. They are the initiators and instigators of nearly all the allegations, and they have been witnesses to many of the events. There is also evidence that they have already met and decided the trial’s outcome ahead of time.
“I posted a lengthy initial response to Bailey’s statement on the union’s website (www.dft231.com ) several weeks ago, which is still there.”
East English Village Preparatory Academy math teacher Nicole Conaway called the trial “an extremely divisive and dangerous distraction” in a statement.
“We are at a key turning point in rebuilding the power of the DFT, especially with the fight now to defend our health care against a massive assault by the governor and his emergency manager,” she said. “This trial will only serve the purposes of our union’s enemies.”DFT’s Conn goes to union trial on misconduct charge
SLewis@detroitnews.com
(313) 222-2296