In July, Newport News City Council voted to give city workers collective bargaining rights (also known as contract negotiations). Newport News school workers deserve the same!
After years of advocacy from the NNEA, the Newport News School Board has a vote on a collective bargaining study group on the agenda at their next meeting. City Council went through a similar process with their collective bargaining task force which led to a historic collective bargaining ordinance, which is the first of its kind in Hampton Roads in decades.
The School Board’s proposed study group can likewise lead to contract negotiations for school employees – but we need NNEA members at the next Board meeting in support! Join us in #Red4Ed on Tuesday, Sept. 15, at 6:30 pm at 12465 Warwick Blvd., 23606.
If you can’t make the School Board meeting on Sept. 15, please email the Board in support of the collective bargaining study group and in support of contract negotiations for school employees:
“I am an NNEA member. I support the School Board’s proposed collective bargaining study group. City workers won contract negotiations – school employees deserve the same!”
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
You can view School Board meeting agendas at: https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/nnps/Board.nsf/Public
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An earlier draft of the School Board’s proposed Collective Bargaining Study Group: https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/nnps/Board.nsf/pfiles/DX2NVU61D17C/$file/Collective%20Bargaining%20Resolution.pdf
At the last School Board meeting, the NNEA President and the VEA President advocated for NNEA representatives to be required members of the study group and for the study group to culminate in a collective bargaining resolution for the Board to vote on. Board members seemed receptive to these changes, and the NNEA will be following up as soon as the updated study group resolution is posted.
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Learn more about collective bargaining, which would give teachers & school staff a seat at the table to negotiate for fair contracts: https://www.veanea.org/o2b/.
Teacher and staff working conditions are student learning conditions, so collective bargaining / contract negotiations directly benefits students by allowing school employees to negotiate for things like smaller class sizes, more planning time, reduced unnecessary testing, improved safety precautions, stronger disciplinary consequences, etc. Negotiating contracts allows those of us working on the front lines in our public schools to use our experience and expertise to improve teaching and learning conditions. Private sector workers in Virginia and most American public employees outside the South already have the right to negotiate for fair contracts. The United Nations considers collective bargaining a human right. Bans on public sector collective bargaining in the South are a relic of Jim Crow. Many African-Americans became teachers and municipal workers after Reconstruction, and segregationists in the South responded by banning collective bargaining rights.
Newport News Education Association 
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