Solidarity in Omaha!

NEA Today, Nov 1999

Solidarity in Omaha!

Teacher members of the Omaha (Nebraska) Education Association, working without a contract since last spring, rallied September 20 before the school board and won huge press coverage. Showing solidarity at the 1,500-person event: community folks and ESP represented by SEIU Local 226.

After 15 months of bargaining and a two-day strike, members of the Alum Rock (California) Educators Association/CTA have ratified a contract that provides a 12 percent salary increase over three years and institutes this elementary district's first-ever teacher preparation periods.

In a First Amendment case, the Maine Education Association has won a jury award of $150,000 for a probationary elementary teacher fired because she expressed "real concern" over student safety. after observing violent behavior by her principal. This case, says the MEA attorney, was about "clearing the good name" of the teacher and "sending a message to area districts" about her fitness as an educator.

Gary McGowen, president of the Oyster River (New Hampshire) ESP Association, looked over his new job description and found language that would have reclassified him and three other head custodians as supervisors, stripping them of union rights. NEA-New Hampshire reps quickly helped McGowen write new language, later approved by the district, protecting the union status of head custodians.