Stockton, CA–With its current contract not due to expire until August 31, 2016, the Stockton Unified School District has filed charges against the Stockton Teachers Association with the California Public Employee Relations Board for planning to strike in violation of the current contract.
According to Recordnet.com, the district’s 10-page complaint alleges that the union, among other things, “sent hundreds of anonymous postcards over the past month to Assistant Superintendent Craig Wells with handwritten threats to strike.”
The complaint documents strike threats and preparation efforts that have been held numerous times since April and continued most recently with Tuesday’s strike authorization vote, despite contract language in which the association expressly agrees not to engage in any strike or concerted activity. The district says in the complaint that any strike, before or after fact-finding is completed, is unlawful because of the concerted-activities clause, and that it would be “an illegal unilateral change in working conditions” and terms of employment for the bargaining unit members.
Despite its contract being in effect for another 17 months, on March 10, the Stockton Teachers Association, a local chapter of the California Teachers Association, which is part of the National Education Association, conducted a strike vote among its members.
WOW —> RT @eroberts209: STA teachers authorize union to call strike by 97.5 percent vote #STAVOTE
— Debbie Hernandez (@Little_Debs) March 11, 2015
Although Article 24 [in PDF] of the union’s contract with the school district clearly states that neither party shall file “a grievance, unfair labor practice charge, or lawsuit seeking damages or other relief,” apparently, the district felt that the union’s strike vote violated the spirit of the contract.
According to a district statement:
“The District has unfortunately been compelled to file an unfair labor practice with the Office of the General Counsel of the California Public Employment Relations Board against the unlawful and bad-faith tactics of the Stockton Teachers Association,” interim Superintendent Julie Penn said in a statement Friday.
“Stockton Unified must take a stand against the illegal vote and strike planning by STA that would be significantly hurtful to the educational progress of our students. STA expressly agreed not to strike or take any job action for the duration of its current contract, which ends in August, 2016. Yet STA has taken a strike authorization vote and threatened to take teachers off the job. As such, the District had no choice but seek quasi-judicial remedy. The District trusts that PERB will apply decades old legal precedent and issue a complaint against STA for bad faith bargaining and illegal conduct.”
Although the union’s president, John Steiner, does not deny that the union took a strike vote, he denies that the union will strike before the contract expires in 2016. “It would be laughable if it wasn’t so tragic,” he said. “I’ve gone out of my way to clarify and educate that STA will not strike until it is legal. … We would not illegally strike and we are not in any stretch of the imagination looking to do an illegal strike.” While it remains unknown when–or even if–the teachers will strike. However, if they do, the district has prepared at Fact Sheet for them on its website. Image credit: Facebook.
companies plan for contingencies due to labor problems, why is it so wrong for unions to do the same??
Your question is presupposes that there is judgement that the STA’s actions are wrong. The school disctrict apparently believes there is—and filed its allegations appropriately. Whether or not the PERB agrees has yet to be determined.