UNO charters unionize

by Paul Kersey Earlier today the Alliance of Charter School Teachers and Staff, known as ACTS, presented cards that were apparently signed by a strong majority of teachers at United Neighborhood Organization charter schools. An observer appointed by UNO and the union counted the cards and determined that ACTS would henceforth represent UNO teachers. For...

by Paul Kersey

Earlier today the Alliance of Charter School Teachers and Staff, known as ACTS, presented cards that were apparently signed by a strong majority of teachers at United Neighborhood Organization charter schools. An observer appointed by UNO and the union counted the cards and determined that ACTS would henceforth represent UNO teachers.

For the sake of UNO teachers, we hope that this was indeed their wish. And for the sake of UNO students and families, we hope that the unionization works out well for all involved.  But the way that this process was handled was troubling. UNO set a precedent that we hope will not be followed by other charter schools.

The first clear indication that UNO would be unionized came not from teachers, but from UNO’s administration, which made a special arrangement with ACTS. ACTS was allowed access to UNO teachers in UNO schools and received contact information for teachers.

UNO has had its own political problems of late, losing state funding on account of construction contracts that went to friends and relatives of UNO officers and backers. Having the union may lessen the political pressure in the short term. But the price over the long term could be high.

ACTS could prove to be a destructive force in the charter school movement. It is not so far removed, either geographically or organizationally, from AFT Local 1, the Chicago Teachers Union. CTU is under the control of an especially radical – almost hysterical – leadership cadre that has waged a strike and poisoned working relationships between teachers and Chicago Public Schools. CTU has shownnothing but contempt toward charters, treating them as pawns of the wealthy set up to drain resources from traditional public schools. In the eyes of CTU President Karen Lewis, charters are not “real schools.”

Under the umbrella of the AFT, ACTS will have to coexist in Chicago with that same CTU. There is already pressure on ACTS to take on CTU’s hostility toward employers. ACTS has taken the CTU’s sideon the closure of traditional public schools in Chicago, and issued a statement of support for CTU during last September’s strike. It remains to be seen if ACTS will be able to stake its own place as a bargaining partner that respects Chicago charter schools and their mission of providing an alternative to the Chicago Public Schools system.

Even more worrying is the card-check process that resulted in ACTS being certified. That card-check process leaves teachers vulnerable to fraud and intimidation, and is an extremely unreliable way to determine if a union actually has teacher support.

What’s done is done. UNO’s teachers will be unionized. We will never really know whose choice it was – the teachers’ or the administration’s. UNO certainly gave ACTS a headstart. Whoever was the prime mover, we’ll find out whether this was a good move for UNO’s teachers and students.