Fairfax County School Board passes a resolution to allow collective bargaining
The Fairfax County School Board passed a resolution on March 9 giving employees collective bargaining rights.
The Fairfax County Federation of Teachers lauded passage of the resolution, stating teachers will now have “a seat at the table and be able to negotiate for better wages, benefits, and working conditions.”
Employee associations can demonstrate sufficient support for collective bargaining by petitioning employees in one or more of three bargaining units – licensed instructional staff, operational staff, or administrators and supervisors.
Bargaining unit employees can select an exclusive representative by majority vote using a secret ballot and instant runoff voting. The school board would then certify the election results, and the employee association with majority support would become the exclusive bargaining agent for that unit.
Membership in a union or association identified as a bargaining unit will be voluntary. Employees who choose not to join will not pay dues.
Once an agreement is reached with a union or association serving as an exclusive representative for a bargaining unit, all employees in the unit will be covered by the terms of the agreement. That entity would then bargain on behalf of all employees it represents.
Collective bargaining agreements approved by the FCPS school board will be legally binding and enforceable contracts.
However, Virginia law requires bargaining agreements to be subject to budget limitations. As a result, a collective bargaining agreement cannot override the school board’s authority to allocate funds to meet its financial commitments.
Virginia law also prohibits public employees from engaging in a strike.
The motion to allow collective bargaining was sponsored by school board member Karl Frisch (Providence) and seconded by Stella Pekarsky (Sully).
“This vote is a demonstration not only of our commitment to improving school staffing, pay, and morale but also to better outcomes for students,” Frisch said. “In addition to engaged parents, there is no greater driver of student success than classroom teachers.”
“We face a staffing crisis in public education. Longstanding teacher and school staff shortages are driven by low pay relative to peers in other professions with similar credentials, inadequate or uneven professional support, and challenging work conditions,” Frisch said.
Collective bargaining will have a positive impact on staff retention and student success, he said. “Everyone wins when teacher-pay increases, working conditions improve, turnover reduces, and educators have a seat at the decision-making table.”
The school board vote follows action by the Virginia General Assembly in 2020 to allow school boards to enter into collective bargaining relationships with staff representatives. The school board voted in 2020 to begin considering collective bargaining at FCPS.
The resolution passed on Thursday is based on the recommendations of a collective bargaining workgroup that included representatives from 17 certified employee associations and FCPS central office leadership.
5 responses to “Fairfax County School Board passes a resolution to allow collective bargaining”
Leave a reply
So how was it possible in the past to have some of the best schools in the nation – but no teachers’ union? BoS are getting a raise and they’re not unionized? How is that possible? Could there be an erosion of competence and integrity at the County government level? Do we need an inspector general for such a large county? Just questions.
The allure of professional status is tarnished if not removed by these unionization actions for teachers and school administrators. Don’t be fooled for one minute by the rhetoric claiming this is about students. The unionization of teachers is all about job benefits, privileges, and protection despite claims for better student achievement. Teacher unions use contracts, lobbying, campaign contributions and other means to make education one sided (teacher sided) vs parents primarily.
Fairfax is dominated by one political party elected with the core support of those that have the most to gain from this action at the expense of everyone else. That is what this is really about.
Make no mistake- FCPS has extremely well paid teachers with outstanding benefits compared to just about anywhere in the country and assuredly in VA (teaching is one of the few jobs an instructor can easily change location of employment without worry). It is one of the key reasons so many teachers come to FCPS vs. other states and systems – which has enabled so many good teachers to be here as well as push out bad ones (that latter ability goes further away with a union).
As a government employee I know that Government employee Unions don’t help, outside of trades and physical laborers, as they have nothing to contribute to better service or common good and only serve to protect and pad themselves and their members at everyone else’s expense.
Private sector unions are very different from public sector. But sadly most Private sector unions follow the operating model of public sector unions which doesn’t work. In the private sector- a union has to be more flexible and work with the company or they both loose (company closes or forced to shift jobs to cheaper suppliers to stay globally competitive).
Public sector unions don’t worry about going out of business, but rather push higher taxes and spending for the same or less service; and thus push for one political party that is elected and dominates Fairfax.
Until people learn, any elected system dominated by one party rule is no different than any other authoritarian government or system – expect more of the same bad decisions. Just because they are elected makes no difference in outcomes. This unionization is an output perpetuating the bad decision and outcomes of today and for the future.
“Until people learn, any elected system dominated by one party rule is no different than any other authoritarian government or system…”
May i assume your comment applies to every so-called “red” state in the country dominated by Rs from governor through legislature and supreme court? might I add every ‘red’ county in Virginia?