UNION FUTURE IS UNCERTAIN AS EVSC ENGAGES IN UNION BUSTING
By David Reitz Ballard
They are supposed to be the body responsible for the education of our youth, but where is there sense of honor and integrity. What the EVSC School Board is attempting to do in their recent negotiations with the Teamsters Local 215 is union busting, plain and simple.
It seems the dynamics have changed between the School Board and the Teamsters, two groups that used to be political allies. By allowing EVSC non-educational staff the ability to opt out of paying representation dues to the Teamsters, the School Board has set a dangerous precedent.
If more and more EVSC custodians, maintenance worker, secretaries and bus drivers decide to opt out of paying dues to the Teamsters, eventually those employees will have little or no collective bargaining power or job security. If this happens they will wish they hadn’t when the time comes and it’s their jobs are on the chopping block.
Another issue at stake concerns the discipline process of EVSC employees. If appearing before the School Board becomes the final stage of discipline, eliminating the current third-party mediator, there will be less objective oversight when it comes to issues of discipline and termination.
By attempting to decrease the power of the Teamsters, the School Board has put the system in turmoil. Morale is poor for nearly 700 members EVSC staff.  We can only hope that the School Board’s decisions do not have a negative impact on our students.
Bottom line: You, as the electorate should take responsibility and have your voice heard! Let the School Board know that by breaking apart the Teamsters’ collective bargaining power and limiting oversight over discipline issues, they are hurting our students chances for success in the future!
Please take time and vote in today’s “Readers Poll”. Don’t miss reading today’s Feature article because it’s always an interesting read. New addition to the CCO is the Cause of Death reports generated by the Vanderburgh County Health Department.
I am sure someone here will correct me, and tell me I am wrong, but isn’t the school board just trying to comply with RTW? If an employee states they do not want to be in the union, but the bargaining agreement says that EVSC must take out union dues, doesn’t that, then, put the EVSC in violation of the law and open them up for a lawsuit? At least that is the way I am reading this part of the argument… Now, the arbitration issue is different.
Yes and no. They are claiming rtw, however, the staff is considered public sector. The way the law was written exempts public sector from those mandates. The board keeps saying it will honor employees wishes and 85%+ have made it clear they want representation. The union has negotiated and proposed to allow those who don’t want to be union to opt out. The problem is the board wants all or nothing. In my opinion that is not honoring their wishes. That is simply saying they will not negotiate the matter. The members were faced with a take our proposal or leave it. That is not negotiating in good faith. It is also not keeping their word.
Public sector unions are a bad deal. It appears to me that the issue is a wolf and a lion fighting over how they will distribute our tax money among themselves. I don’t believe either one has our best interest in mind.
Always hilarious and sickening at the same time to see and hear the massive RW hypocrites complain about public sector unions while the Koch Bros buy out the entire Republican party lock stock and barrel.
And why would a brainy, left wing wrong information dem give a hoot who the Koch brothers buy?
Yeah, you should try being hilarious instead of just sickening. OK, you worked your boogeyman into your comment. That is hilarious.
Why can’t the employees pay their own dues? Why does the EVSC have to collect them out of each employees paycheck? What’s the big deal? Just curious.
It’s call a Union Security Clause and negotiated in the Contract. My grandfather was a Union Steward in the days that the dues were collected by hand. It was part of his job to round them up. like any regular payment, it’s easier on the employee and the Union for it to be automatically deducted like health insurance and federal taxes. It provides consistent funds to the Union and allows them more time to focus on representation. It was a hard fought victory for organized labor. Since employees choose to pay dues anymore, what’s it matter how they make they way to the Union.
Mr. Ballard missed the boat on the first issue. The employees already have the right not to pay dues. It’s an open shop. The language at stake is not actively used. It’s more of an issue of looking for a fight on the part of the School Board. The language says they have to collect dues from everyone. In reality, they don’t if someone opts out. It can’t trigger a lawsuit from the ACLU if it’s not used. However, it’s much harder to get something into a contract from the Union’s perspective than to get it out. Who knows what the future holds? If they let the language go, it could be a problem down the road. The system isn’t broke on this issue, so there’s no reason to fix it.
On the second issue, the School Board has the final say on teacher discipline. They have largely been a rubber stamp to the EVSC administration regarding the same. This is an incredibly important issue. The first one not so much, but since the EVSC is insisting on both, the Teamsters are wise to hold on both points.
One point that really demonstrates the bad faith bargaining on the side of the EVSC is the fact that the Teamsters’ issues for this negotiations have not even been heard. The EVSC jumped straight to what they knew would give them a basis for calling an impasse and didn’t even bother to appear to be negotiating a new contract.
What is confusing to me is the Teamster leadership’s prior support of everyone but Kiefer. The times I’ve seen Whobrey and Duckworth rubbing elbows have been gross. I know Whobrey is operating off of the keep your enemies close concept, and he’s been doing this a long time, but it’s hard to watch. These people fundamentally do not believe in the Teamsters right to exist. Every single one, including Vaneta Becker’s husband, operate with the mentality that if we have to deal with them, fine, but if we can get rid of them, even better.
How about in this case we use the word “union” as in unity that a School Superintendent, a school board and union employees all work together for the success and strength of a school corporation . That takes leadership that supports, encourages and empowers people to do the best job possible. David Smith is doing nothing except demoralize his EVSC workforce . This is very concerning for this community. These folks have many years invested in this school corporation and things have been going very smoothly up until Dr.Smith came along. I don’t feel he has the leadership skills to continue managing this school Corporation. Every CEO of a successful company works hard to empower his employees to rise and succeed and then everyone wins! Dr. Smith’s style of leadership is to beat them down! Just sad!
+1
Graph decline in union membership and decline in middle class incomes and it’s almost identical.
He the Supt. and his Bobble Head Board have wasted more money on a Union Busting Indy Lawyer. You raise the idea of taxpayers dollars these folks have got a two percent raise in five yrs. They are not breaking the taxpayers. And also had their insurance go up last year which ate up the raise and most bring home less than before the raise. Now the Doc and all his buddies are doing pretty good in pay for themselves and also perks. They need to honor these loyal Union Employees wishes and negotiate with their Union and find a workable agreement. Back to the table. Have you ever notice what incredible job that these Union Employees do the
Doesn’t it raise a bunch of red flags for everyone that these two issues are so important this year but were never even mentioned as issues in prior years? The laws on union dues didn’t change this year. Notice that the school board never said they did. If everything was legal for the past 4 or 5 years then it is still legal. They threw the name ACLU out there but failed to provide even 1 detail-like what exactly they are threatening to sue over. I know, they said union dues. I was thinking more along the lines of the actual grounds for legal action not just a general category name. I, personally, don’t believe there is a threat of lawsuit. I believe it is a manufactured issue created to strike fear in people and serve as a roadblock to meaningful negotiations. We need less scare tactics and more facts. Of course that requires the board’s statements to be true and facts actually to be in existence. I have my doubts. If they had facts wouldn’t they have provided them, if nothing else just to stop the public outcry.
Doesn’t the school board’s concern over these two issues raise several red flags for everyone. They would have us believe that these issues are so important that they never complained about them before. That doesn’t make sense at all. The fact is laws governing the collection of union dues have not changed in recent years. If it was legal last year its legal now. Notice that the school board didn’t even say the law had changed this past year. I believe the board threw the name ACLU out there to serve as a scare tactic. The board never provided any details as to what exactly the ACLU might sue over. I know, union dues. I was thinking along the lines of specific reason not just a category name. This doesn’t even make sense from the ACLU’s perspective. The school board’s story is that the ACLU has allowed an illegal practice to take place for over a year without issue, but will sue in the future over this issue. If the ACLU thought something was illegal they would have been all over it all ready. This is nothing more than a manufactured issue design to scare people and serve as a roadblock to meaningful negotiations.
I apologize for the double post. Just learned how to do this. Apparently it did work the first time. Got it now.
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