to Support the NNEA and Collective Bargaining!
We need NNEA members and other public education supporters in #Red4Ed at the next Newport News School Board meeting this Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 6:30 pm at the NNPS Admin Building at 12465 Warwick Boulevard, 23606. Even if you can’t stay for the entire meeting and need to leave early or come late, please join us there in RED!
In September, the School Board voted 6-1 to approve a Collective Bargaining Study Group. NN City Council went through a similar process with their Collective Bargaining Task Force, which led to a public vote and adoption of a historic collective bargaining ordinance for Newport News city workers.
NNEA is advocating for the CB Study Group to last 6 months since City Council’s Task Force lasted 6 months, and for the study group to culminate in a public vote on collective bargaining (City Council held a public vote and unanimously approved collective bargaining for city workers in July).
At School Board meetings, citizens can sign up to speak for up to 3 minutes during public comments.
You can view School Board meeting agendas at: https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/nnps/Board.nsf/Public
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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.
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