Fair Haven Union High School teachers seek union split
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By BRENDAN McKENNA Herald Staff - Published: March 3, 2006
FAIR HAVEN A group of Fair Haven Union High School faculty is seeking to throw out their local union and cut ties with the state and national chapters of the National Education Association.
State union officials said the effort to split from the NEA is unprecedented in the state and possibly premature.
Curt Hier, a social studies teacher and former union member, said frustrations with the union, the Addison-Rutland Education Association locally, and with its state and national affiliates in the school, has grown to the point where he can force a referendum to "decertify" the local union.
Hier said he hopes to form another union independent of the NEA to represent roughly 60 teachers, nurses, librarians and guidance counselors in the school.
"Anyone who has a professional license from the state Department of Education who is not an administrator is in the bargaining unit," he said. "I needed 20 percent of the bargaining unit of about 60 people to sign the petition.
I got 17."
He added, "Quite a few people wanted to think about it
and some were sympathetic but didn't want to go on the record."
Hier said the local union only listens to nonmembers when the contract is up for negotiation. He said the state chapter is a bloated bureaucracy, and accused the national organization of donating to liberal causes.
"I've got issues with the local association. I've got issues with the state association and I've got issues with the national association," he said. "I don't know that all the people who signed have issues with all levels, though."
He added, "Locally, they court us during negotiation years, then when we have concerns or something we want to talk about they don't want to listen.
At the state level, they don't really represent teachers, for example, they're against the statewide teachers' contract."
Hier also cited a Wall Street Journal article reporting that the NEA gave millions of dollars to liberal causes.
"A lot of us don't want our money going to those causes," he said. "Even if they were giving to my favorite causes, I still wouldn't like it. That should be up to the individual."
Angelo Dorta, president of Vermont-NEA, said many of Hier's points were based on errors and misperceptions.
"He's misinformed, frankly," Dorta said.
Hier's criticism of the salaries of Vermont-NEA field representatives and other staff don't seem to be based on knowledge of what they actually do, Dorta said.
"It's a free country, so he's free to spout his opinion, but he ought to do so on the basis of fact," Dorta said. "If (membership) wasn't valuable, we wouldn't have 20-plus years of continuous growth to the tune of 11,000 members across the state."
Dorta added, "We've definitely proved our worth to 11,000 current members as opposed to 17 people in Fair Haven who put their names to a petition."
He said Hier's criticism of the national union was based on an article he said was riddled with inaccuracies.
"There are a lot of fallacies, a lot of errors in that attack piece," Dorta said.
He noted that the national organization does make donations to AIDS Walk organizations and to organizations to support student achievement, working conditions and special education issues.
"The Vermont-NEA does not contribute to (political) organizations," he said. "We have contributed to Hurricane Katrina relief."
Dorta added that 15 of the 17 petition signers are not members of the local union, and they seemed to be "getting a little ahead of themselves" by calling for a decertification before the existing contract expires in June 2007.
"I believe that can't happen until the contract expires," he said. "They sound misinformed on that, too, if they're calling for a vote or change."
There may be legitimate concerns being raised about local union officials, Dorta said.
"We'll certainly talk with the local leadership and get their best assessment of what's driving this stated dissatisfaction," he said. "If they need help in terms of internal communication with members or whether it's organizational development whatever they need, we'll provide."
But Dorta questioned Hier's motivation for pushing the decertification, noting that a news release Hier sent out referenced his own book.
"One has to wonder if this is an individual cause cθlιbre to hype his book," Dorta said.
Hier self-published a book, "A Teacher Talks Back," that is critical of both conservative and liberal education reform agendas.
Hier denied that his motive was to promote his book.
"The union is not proactive in school climate issues
a lot of teachers are mistreated and the union doesn't seem to care," he said. "That's what this is all about.
If I had a choice between better conditions under which to teach or a best seller, I think I would choose better conditions."
Hurley Cavacas, the local union president and a math teacher at the school, could not be reached for comment.
Through a Vermont-NEA spokeswoman he said he hoped to handle the questions about the union internally but declined to comment further.
Contact Brendan McKenna at brendan.mckenna@rutlandherald.com.
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