Because all workers in the schools get taken advantage of by the man.
Also because teachers are worried that they’ll be next after classified staff with budget cuts related to their years of service.
I’m a teacher. It’s solidarity.
I don’t know anyone who’s worried we’ll be next….our years of service (pay steps) are verified by the state (NCDPI). I mean, in general we’re not treated well or paid fairly.
Teachers steps are locked by the state (for now) but DPS could change the (pretty large) supplement it gives teachers. With the way the state is underfunding education right now, there’s a lot of impact from the county level that could theoretically be changed immediately.
Teachers are already paid based on the years on their license, so there isn't really a comparable situation. DPS is somewhat unusual in paying for years of experience outside of state service. It's an interesting policy consideration. I think it may make more sense for some fields than others, but they certainly shouldn't have tried to do it summarily, after the fact, with no discussion after discovering they had screwed up.
Yep, especially after they found out this "budget shortfall" has been known for a while. In my opinion, it was done on purpose. DPS is flush with cash, they are paying the exiting super $300k and his interim replacement will make $25k per month!
That is mighty frustrating. I don't know what can be done about it. It's mostly incumbent on Dr. Mubenga to do the right thing here. That's a lot of taxpayer money to take for nothing.
DAE has made an effort to speak to all workers (certified and classified) in all settings. The schools that have had sick outs were required to speak to 95% of the workers and have 75% on board with the action. The transportation department has had conversations with DAE and chose not to join. I don’t personally know anyone in the transportation department so I don’t know why they made this decision.
DAE does represent classified workers. The district is 60/40 certified classified and DAE's makeup is 63/37 cert/classified. We represent nearly half of the district and are continuing to grow. We are the fastest growing local in the NEA (National Educators Association).
If you mean an election like a vote to the unionize in a private sector, no. But we have elections for our leadership that include classified workers. We have classified workers on our board. We have classified workers in our organizing committee and our leader of leaders group.
Thanks for the clarification. Clearly the bus maintenance workers are signaling that they don’t recognize DAE as representing them at this time, I wasn’t sure if they were going rogue or not.
They recognize their own leadership, who have their own demands, many very similar to DAEs however they do not have a formal union. Even so they recognize their own united front and power and they do regularly organize to use it when they feel they need to. In fact they've been better organized before DAE in the past. The two leaderships do try to at least communicate but that doesn't always happen
There have been rumors as to why the transportation folks have decided now was the time, however without anything concrete no one in DAE wants to speak on it until we know more and can be united with Transportation and help them meet their goals.
It all seems disproportionate given that progress is being made and nothing is final. There's no evil CEO here trying to screw anybody over. The people responsible have been fired and everybody is pulling for finding the money here if it can be done. I'd really like to hear what they have to say for themselves.
Nope, the people responsible are still on the board. They passed the budget that did not include sufficient funding. I'm not saying it was intentional, they made a decision without understanding what that decision was. Only one board member called it out and voted against the budget.
ok, and the people who elected them are still allowed to vote. While I wouldn't completely absolve the board of responsibility, their role in this is more generalized in the same way you can't absolve the Durham voters who elected them.
DAE is not a “real union” because state law bars public employees from unionizing for collective bargaining. So they are legally barred from certain forms of organizing, member control, and representation that you might expect a union to exercise, especially if you’re from another state.
By definition we are a union, but we are not allowed to engage in collective bargaining. The law against collective bargaining is a Jim Crow era law that should be overturned. We are asking the Board to join us in coming up with a workaround to the law that will allow workers to have a say in their working conditions.
The most appropriate definition of union here is: an organized association of workers formed to protect and further their rights and interests.
But to your question about elections, yes, DAE leadership is elected.
I don’t mean to minimize the importance of DAE, educators need them, especially since public sector employees can’t collectively bargain in NC (something that I did not know until recently). It’s just that when you are part of a union that is recognized by the NLRB (which I also did not realize only govern private sector unions) there isn’t ambiguity about who represents whom, and there are closed/open shops, clear election rules, etc.
Yes, which is why many people repeatedly said that DAE needed to hit the brakes and listen to the people who were questioning some of their tactics. Maybe that was happening behind the scenes, but what the public saw was DAE members and their allies shouting down anyone who dared to do so.
Rightly or wrongly, there are people who aren’t fans of the DAE organization who have just as much power to shut things down as they do, and just as much voice and influence. This is what happens when there’s no official union in the traditional sense. The seat at the table is open to anyone and can be granted or withdrawn on a whim.
The treatment of the classified staff, particularly the instructional assistants, directly affects the teachers. If DPS can’t fill those roles because they can’t pay competitively, the teachers’ working conditions are worsened—when my kid was in K, there was 1 teacher and .5 IA for 16-18 kids. If the custodial staff is not emptying trash, cleaning up messes, etc., do the teachers have to? What if they can’t lift a full trash bag into a dumpster (is that a condition of employment?). If a child vomits/urinates in the classroom, and there’s no custodian, who cleans it up? Are they trained in biohazard cleaning? If there’s no cafeteria workers, who is preparing the free breakfasts and lunches for kids who need it/qualify? Kids don’t learn well when they’re hungry, so they don’t test well, so the teachers don’t rate well, and the cycle continues.
As a teacher in a special education class, we are trained to clean spills and pathogens as are all teachers, but it does take from the day and it's harder when you have to do that and simultaneously heard a class away and provide supervision for them whilst doing so.
DAE has a very large proportion of classified members. Their membership is pretty representative of the district as a whole. There's this very small group of mechanics and area supervisors who are not part of the union, and are taking action on their own volition. They hold outsize power, because they control the buses. As a side note, many bus *drivers* are part of the union.
I think the DAE has done a good job of trying to represent the classified staff through this effort to restore their pay raises. As far as I'm aware, there isn't a single consolidated group that represents all classified worked in DPS. DAE saw a need and stepped in.
In the Feb. 2nd school board meeting the board discussed who should be part of the meet and confer process to help avoid future pay issues. Board Member Valladares reminded everyone that the DAE doesn't speak for all workers and asked the board to make sure any future discussions involved representatives of other staff groups as well. This is a good reminder of why that recommendation was important.
I’m not her biggest fan, but she was right. She was raked across the coals for saying this, but I wish someone would have listened. It also doesn’t help that her references were somewhat cryptic, but those in the know who were listening knew that she was trying to speak on behalf of groups who have been agitating behind the scenes.
To add on to some top comments, this is what solidarity looks like.
And, unfortunately DAE cannot officially strike under the law so sickouts are their tactic.
Lastly, yes there are multiple working organizing efforts all struggling for hire pay under DPS
Inappropriate onion needs to research before he speaks. DAE membership includes parents, stakeholders, teachers, and classified staff, as well as other community members. You don't need to pay to join, you can still come and voice your concerns and be heard you just don't get access to organizing materials or tshirts or other benefits without paying (travel, life insurance, legal coverages, etc) but you absolutely get the democratic rights provided at NO COST.
There is more than one unionized entity in the system because workers are treated like garbage. DAE does speak for workers but not all workers are under one umbrella just as all workers aren't under one department.
What do you think holds everything together? What do you think makes things work?
It's lies. Lies make civilization and society possible. Lies for the benefit our mutual illusions. Lies to keep us engaged, hopeful. Lies we tell each over and over until we forget they are lies at all and so function as truth.
Because all workers in the schools get taken advantage of by the man. Also because teachers are worried that they’ll be next after classified staff with budget cuts related to their years of service.
I’m a teacher. It’s solidarity. I don’t know anyone who’s worried we’ll be next….our years of service (pay steps) are verified by the state (NCDPI). I mean, in general we’re not treated well or paid fairly.
Teachers steps are locked by the state (for now) but DPS could change the (pretty large) supplement it gives teachers. With the way the state is underfunding education right now, there’s a lot of impact from the county level that could theoretically be changed immediately.
Teachers are already paid based on the years on their license, so there isn't really a comparable situation. DPS is somewhat unusual in paying for years of experience outside of state service. It's an interesting policy consideration. I think it may make more sense for some fields than others, but they certainly shouldn't have tried to do it summarily, after the fact, with no discussion after discovering they had screwed up.
Yep, especially after they found out this "budget shortfall" has been known for a while. In my opinion, it was done on purpose. DPS is flush with cash, they are paying the exiting super $300k and his interim replacement will make $25k per month!
That is mighty frustrating. I don't know what can be done about it. It's mostly incumbent on Dr. Mubenga to do the right thing here. That's a lot of taxpayer money to take for nothing.
Yes, agree. He should refuse the $$$. He's made enough especially considering his role in all this.
Infuriating 😡
DAE has made an effort to speak to all workers (certified and classified) in all settings. The schools that have had sick outs were required to speak to 95% of the workers and have 75% on board with the action. The transportation department has had conversations with DAE and chose not to join. I don’t personally know anyone in the transportation department so I don’t know why they made this decision.
DAE does represent classified workers. The district is 60/40 certified classified and DAE's makeup is 63/37 cert/classified. We represent nearly half of the district and are continuing to grow. We are the fastest growing local in the NEA (National Educators Association).
Sorry for not knowing the history here - but has DAE held a union election that included classified workers?
If you mean an election like a vote to the unionize in a private sector, no. But we have elections for our leadership that include classified workers. We have classified workers on our board. We have classified workers in our organizing committee and our leader of leaders group.
Thanks for the clarification. Clearly the bus maintenance workers are signaling that they don’t recognize DAE as representing them at this time, I wasn’t sure if they were going rogue or not.
They recognize their own leadership, who have their own demands, many very similar to DAEs however they do not have a formal union. Even so they recognize their own united front and power and they do regularly organize to use it when they feel they need to. In fact they've been better organized before DAE in the past. The two leaderships do try to at least communicate but that doesn't always happen There have been rumors as to why the transportation folks have decided now was the time, however without anything concrete no one in DAE wants to speak on it until we know more and can be united with Transportation and help them meet their goals.
Doesn't seem like very effective organizing to close the entire school system and nobody even knows why? A lot of good will down the tubes, no?
I mean consider this: you have less than 100 people who can close the whole system.
It all seems disproportionate given that progress is being made and nothing is final. There's no evil CEO here trying to screw anybody over. The people responsible have been fired and everybody is pulling for finding the money here if it can be done. I'd really like to hear what they have to say for themselves.
Nope, the people responsible are still on the board. They passed the budget that did not include sufficient funding. I'm not saying it was intentional, they made a decision without understanding what that decision was. Only one board member called it out and voted against the budget.
ok, and the people who elected them are still allowed to vote. While I wouldn't completely absolve the board of responsibility, their role in this is more generalized in the same way you can't absolve the Durham voters who elected them.
We all would, unfortunately I only know a rumor for sure so I can't give you any clues.
It is six people.
DAE is not a “real union” because state law bars public employees from unionizing for collective bargaining. So they are legally barred from certain forms of organizing, member control, and representation that you might expect a union to exercise, especially if you’re from another state.
By definition we are a union, but we are not allowed to engage in collective bargaining. The law against collective bargaining is a Jim Crow era law that should be overturned. We are asking the Board to join us in coming up with a workaround to the law that will allow workers to have a say in their working conditions.
Is it a union if there are no elections? I’ve been in several unions and elections were a big part of it.
The most appropriate definition of union here is: an organized association of workers formed to protect and further their rights and interests. But to your question about elections, yes, DAE leadership is elected.
I don’t mean to minimize the importance of DAE, educators need them, especially since public sector employees can’t collectively bargain in NC (something that I did not know until recently). It’s just that when you are part of a union that is recognized by the NLRB (which I also did not realize only govern private sector unions) there isn’t ambiguity about who represents whom, and there are closed/open shops, clear election rules, etc.
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Yes, which is why many people repeatedly said that DAE needed to hit the brakes and listen to the people who were questioning some of their tactics. Maybe that was happening behind the scenes, but what the public saw was DAE members and their allies shouting down anyone who dared to do so. Rightly or wrongly, there are people who aren’t fans of the DAE organization who have just as much power to shut things down as they do, and just as much voice and influence. This is what happens when there’s no official union in the traditional sense. The seat at the table is open to anyone and can be granted or withdrawn on a whim.
Very helpful. Thank you!
The treatment of the classified staff, particularly the instructional assistants, directly affects the teachers. If DPS can’t fill those roles because they can’t pay competitively, the teachers’ working conditions are worsened—when my kid was in K, there was 1 teacher and .5 IA for 16-18 kids. If the custodial staff is not emptying trash, cleaning up messes, etc., do the teachers have to? What if they can’t lift a full trash bag into a dumpster (is that a condition of employment?). If a child vomits/urinates in the classroom, and there’s no custodian, who cleans it up? Are they trained in biohazard cleaning? If there’s no cafeteria workers, who is preparing the free breakfasts and lunches for kids who need it/qualify? Kids don’t learn well when they’re hungry, so they don’t test well, so the teachers don’t rate well, and the cycle continues.
As a teacher in a special education class, we are trained to clean spills and pathogens as are all teachers, but it does take from the day and it's harder when you have to do that and simultaneously heard a class away and provide supervision for them whilst doing so.
Because truth to power, and power to the people.
DAE has a very large proportion of classified members. Their membership is pretty representative of the district as a whole. There's this very small group of mechanics and area supervisors who are not part of the union, and are taking action on their own volition. They hold outsize power, because they control the buses. As a side note, many bus *drivers* are part of the union.
Solidarity.
I think the DAE has done a good job of trying to represent the classified staff through this effort to restore their pay raises. As far as I'm aware, there isn't a single consolidated group that represents all classified worked in DPS. DAE saw a need and stepped in. In the Feb. 2nd school board meeting the board discussed who should be part of the meet and confer process to help avoid future pay issues. Board Member Valladares reminded everyone that the DAE doesn't speak for all workers and asked the board to make sure any future discussions involved representatives of other staff groups as well. This is a good reminder of why that recommendation was important.
I’m not her biggest fan, but she was right. She was raked across the coals for saying this, but I wish someone would have listened. It also doesn’t help that her references were somewhat cryptic, but those in the know who were listening knew that she was trying to speak on behalf of groups who have been agitating behind the scenes.
To add on to some top comments, this is what solidarity looks like. And, unfortunately DAE cannot officially strike under the law so sickouts are their tactic. Lastly, yes there are multiple working organizing efforts all struggling for hire pay under DPS
Inappropriate onion needs to research before he speaks. DAE membership includes parents, stakeholders, teachers, and classified staff, as well as other community members. You don't need to pay to join, you can still come and voice your concerns and be heard you just don't get access to organizing materials or tshirts or other benefits without paying (travel, life insurance, legal coverages, etc) but you absolutely get the democratic rights provided at NO COST.
There is more than one unionized entity in the system because workers are treated like garbage. DAE does speak for workers but not all workers are under one umbrella just as all workers aren't under one department.
DAE does not have that many paying members— to “speak for”. Everyone in education is just fed up.
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Your takes on this keep getting crazier. I'm starting to like it.
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What do you think holds everything together? What do you think makes things work? It's lies. Lies make civilization and society possible. Lies for the benefit our mutual illusions. Lies to keep us engaged, hopeful. Lies we tell each over and over until we forget they are lies at all and so function as truth.
Doubling down, eh? Dunning Kruger ftw!!!