Newport News Education Association

NNEA members, please show support for our union and for collective bargaining rights / contract negotiations by attending the following Newport News City Council and School Board meetings in #Red4Ed in January:

This Tuesday, Jan. 13, 7 pm – NN City Council meeting at City Hall (2400 Washington Ave., 23609)

Tuesday, Jan. 20, 6:30 pm – NN School Board meeting at the NNPS Admin Building (12465 Warwick Boulevard, 23606)

Tuesday, Jan. 27, 7 pm – NN City Council meeting at City Hall (2400 Washington Ave., 23609)

The NNEA invites NNPS employees both union and non-union as well as community supporters to join us in #Red4Ed in solidarity. Citizens can sign up to speak for up to 3 minutes during the public comments portion of each meeting. We encourage attendees to consider public comments in support of collective bargaining / contract negotiations.

Local elected officials seeing NNEA members and supporters in #Red4Ed at these meetings makes a big impact in support of our union, workers rights for NNPS employees and city workers, and funding for our public schools. In addition, Newport News City Council will soon be considering collective bargaining rights for city workers. It’s very important for us to show up to Council meetings in #Red4Ed in support of contract negotiations for city workers, and they will continue to show up with us to School Board meetings in support of collective bargaining rights for NNPS employees. Working together in solidarity, NNPS employees and city workers are much more likely to win contract negotiations for all of us. When City Council passes collective bargaining rights for city workers, it will put considerable pressure on the School Board to do the same for NNPS employees. Be part of the movement — join us in #Red4Ed at these meetings in support of the NNEA and in support of labor rights for ALL public sector workers – teachers & staff, firefighters & police officers, EMT workers, city electricians, etc.

Learn more about collective bargaining, which would give teachers & staff and city workers a seat at the table to negotiate fair contracts. Collective bargaining is a fundamental labor right that public employees in most states already enjoy, and that private employees in Virginia already enjoy. While public-sector collective bargaining is standard in most of the United States, Virginia and other Southern states banned it as part of a Jim Crow–era backlash to civil-rights reforms that opened public-sector careers—especially teaching and municipal work—to Black workers. The United Nations considers collective bargaining a human right. In 2020, Virginia state leaders repealed the ban on public sector collective bargaining so that the elected officials on school boards, cities, and counties are now allowed — if they choose — to let public employees bargain over wages and working conditions.

If you can’t join a meeting but want to show support for the NNEA and for collective bargaining, please email the School Board and City Council to let them know that you are an NNEA member who supports contract negotiations / collective bargaining rights for NNPS employees and for city workers.

Newport News School Board:

Terri.Best@nn.k12.va.us (chair)

Maritsa.Alger@nn.k12.va.us (vice chair)

Rebecca.Aman@nn.k12.va.us

Douglas.Brown@nn.k12.va.us

Rasheena.Harris@nn.k12.va.us

Gary.Hunter@nn.k12.va.us

Lisa.SurlesLaw@nn.k12.va.us

Newport News City Council: council@nnva.gov

Mayor Jones: mayorsoffice@nnva.gov

School Board meeting agendas are available here.

City Council meeting agendas are available here.

Please consider sharing the links below with prospective members at your work sites:

Benefits of joining the NNEA / VEA: https://www.veanea.org/join/

To join the NNEA / VEA: https://forms.veanea.net/view.php?id=586995