Vote NO on the Proposal to Bargain Health Care Exclusively Through the HBIC!

Keep Negotiations For Health Care Benefits on the OEA Bargaining Table!

In November, a motion for the OEA to bargain all health care benefits exclusively through the Health Benefit Improvement Committee (HBIC) - a committee of all District unions - failed to pass in an OEA Executive Board vote. A similar motion was debated in the December Rep Council and tabled to January’s meeting after members raised numerous questions. The final decision on this proposal will have an enormous impact on the entire course of bargaining our upcoming contract. The proposal would remove the issue of health care from the OEA negotiating table, taking away a key lever of power for our entire contract package and isolating negotiations on this crucial issue from OEA member control. Vote NO on this proposal in the January Rep Council!

Following are key reasons to keep health benefit bargaining on the OEA table:

1. The HBIC would remove control of bargaining the critical health care issue from the OEA membership. The HBIC bargaining committee Is not directly accountable to the OEA membership, and we have little control over the overall composition of the team. We need more democracy and responsiveness to the OEA members not less!

1. Setting-up a separate, competing HBIC bargaining table will stall ALL negotiations, and undercut our own OEA Bargaining Team. Our contract is a package. We will be unable to negotiate anything if such a crucial piece is taken-off the OEA table. There would certainly be no way to seriously negotiate wages without simultaneously having control over health care.   

1. In the HBIC, all unions would have to agree to the same health care plan, but the OEA is the only union with a substantial number of members in Health Net. We are in danger of losing this choice and all being forced into Kaiser if we negotiate jointly.      

1. District Administrator Troy Christmas favors the HBIC, and wants the OEA bound to it as closely as possible, as a way to force through concessions. The OEA is the largest, and strongest union with a unique relationship to the community and history of struggle. Management believes that a strike threat is much less of a factor if the teachers are unable to act because of our formal agreement with the other unions. With reduced strike threat the District has far less motivation to bargain in good faith. 

1. There is another way! We can preserve the OEA’s independence and freedom of action while building real union solidarity. We need to maintain health benefits negotiations on the OEA Bargaining Table while at the same time committing to unified proposals and action with the other unions on a concrete and case by case basis. 

Vote YES on the Proposal to Bargain Health Care

Exclusively Through the HBIC!

As we get ready to enter a new round of contract negotiations, we need to look at both the obstacles we face and our strengths. The solidarity between District unions, after years of mistrust, was key in forcing former State Administrator Randy Ward to shut down the District for a day in 2006.  Now the other district unions have agreed to bargain collectively for health care benefits and have asked OEA to join them.  This invitation comes despite the disappointment and even anger they expressed at OEA’s decision to call off the strike after they had organized to honor our picket lines.  To say no on the grounds that “we can do better on our own” is to turn our backs on actual labor solidarity that we have worked hard to build, and to undercut sympathy for us and for our picket lines (should this become necessary) by the other unions and the community. We have a unique opportunity to collaborate with the other OUSD unions in bargaining health care – a chance to show the administration that we won’t allow them to pick us off one by one.

Why bargain collectively? In a nutshell, to maximize our strength, win the best possible health care benefits, and to show solidarity in action (not just in words) with the other OUSD unions.

·      Will this remove control of bargaining health care from OEA’s membership? No. The process of reaching a tentative agreement will only take place with the full support and participation of our membership along the way. Our representative to the HBIC will be appointed with the approval of the Rep Council, and will report all developments directly to the Bargaining Team and Executive Board. No final agreements will be made if there is disagreement from any of the unions in the HBIC.

·      What if one union can’t live with a tentative agreement?  In our proposed ground rules, we have clearly stated that no proposal could go forward without agreement by each union in advance, and that in the event any union rejects a proposed health care settlement, we would have to start over and resume negotiations.

·      Will setting up a separate HBIC bargaining table slow or stall progress on our other bargaining fronts? Bargaining is a complex process whether we do it at one table or at separate tables. By agreeing to safeguards and ground rules such as those listed on the enclosed draft agreement, we anticipate possible obstacles and chart a clear path for resolving differences. We will already know as we go into negotiations what ALL of our demands will cost:  health care, salary, class size reduction, etc. The district will try to show it doesn’t have the money and will try to play off health care against a salary increase regardless of whether or not we are at separate tables for health care.

·      Will we be in danger of losing Health Net if we negotiate jointly? All of the other unions in HBIC have been firm and clear that they do not want to lose Health Net. All understand that having two health plans keeps any one insurer from monopolizing health care and thereby being in a position to raise rates even higher.

• Since OEA is the largest union, won’t we be stronger if we bargain separately? Not at all. It sounds like a cliché, but it is true: our strength comes from our unity with the other OUSD unions and our support from the community. If we decide to go it alone on this most important issue, we risk being isolated from them. All of the district unions (except the administrators) pledged to support our one-day strike in 2006; bargaining collaboratively would strengthen that pledge in the likely event that the district attempted to further divide us.

The key to building real solidarity is in working directly with the other unions. They are suffering as much as we are from the decline in real wages, the cost of health care, the cuts in staffing and loss of jobs, and the continuing crisis in the quality of education we can offer Oakland students. Rather than let the district divide us from our natural allies as we bargain separately, we can work out any differences we have while negotiating from the same side of the table. Had we united with the other unions around a common proposal during the last negotiations, we might not be where we are today – divided, with OEA members paying ½% of their salary toward premiums, and other unions having to pay more for Health Net. 

Here’s a link to an excellent 33-page paper that systematically dismantles the case for basing education on standardized tests.

http://www.mcte.org/journal/mej07/3Henry.pdf 

*****Another Top Priority Read! 

Richard Rothstein is a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute. and former education columnist for the New York Times. He has written the best single critical analysis of NCLB to date.

http://www.prospect.org:80//cs/articles?article=leaving_nclb_behind  

*****Top Priority Reading!

Quality Education is a Civil Right!

Flanked by a cross-section of over 100 teachers, students, and community members, OEA President Betty Olson-Jones and Bargaining Chair David de Leeuw unveiled OEA’s Sunshine Proposals for a new contract at a press conference on January 17, 2008. Be sure to join your fellow members on January 30 at 4:00 pm in front of District Headquarters (1025 2nd Avenue) for a rally, followed by our presentation of our proposals at the Board of Education meeting!

What we are asking for:

Lower class sizes. 20:1 at all grade levels. 15:1 at schools with greatest need.

Reduced caseload for counselors, and for teachers and nurses working with students with special needs

Compensation that will retain and recruit excellent teachers – 20% pay increase and restoration of fully paid health benefits

Academic freedom that allows teachers to teach, rather than follow a regimented, prepackaged, scripted curriculum 

Read the President’s Remarks for more information. (Members, you can download the Sunshine Proposal in the "Members" area.)

For media accounts of our press conference, check out these links: 

http://www.kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arch=24353 

http://www.kcbs.com/pages/1497472.php? 

http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/article.cfm?issue=01-22-08&storyID=28974

President’s Report to Rep Council

December 3, 2007

This will be a short report since I have just returned from two weeks away – a week in Mobile, Alabama with my husband’s family, and then in Charlotte, NC at the Fall Conference of the National Council of Urban Education Associations (NCUEA).

Local Control

As you know by now, Jack O’Connell descended on Crocker Highlands Elementary last Friday to announce the return of two more areas to local control: Human Relations/Personnel and Facilities. The good news: the Board of Education will soon be able to begin the process of selecting a Superintendent. The bad news: we are still under the state’s thumb in fiscal matters and pupil achievement, and that makes you wonder who would even seriously consider becoming Superintendent under such conditions.

Senator Perata’s Hearing on State Takeovers

Interesting timing… this morning Senator Perata held a hearing in Oakland facilitated by Jack Scott (D-Pasadena), the infamous author of the so-called “Dance of the Lemons” bill, around the issue of state takeovers. There were three panels of testimony focusing on how did we get here? Aside from the money, what should the State do to restore school districts to fiscal solvency? How can the local community restore and sustain the financial health of school districts? I was asked to speak for two minutes during Public Comment; my remarks are included in this packet. The bottom line is that it is absolutely the responsibility of the state to ensure adequate and equitable funding for all public schools! Excuses that we “don’t have the money” are just that – excuses. This is primarily a political, not financial, question in a state that is the eighth largest economy in the world

NCUEA

This organization represents the urban locals of the NEA, and as such is in a great position to raise the issues common to urbans nationwide. The conference was held in Charlotte, NC this year, and attended by close to 150 locals nationwide. Some of the major themes of the conference were:

• NCLB: although we’ve succeeded in derailing the reauthorization for the next year at least, now it’s critical that we continue educating ourselves and the community about the dangers posed by high stakes testing, punitive sanctions, and unfunded mandates.
• “Pay for performance,” AKA “Merit Pay.” There was extensive discussion about this critical issue. Currently 36 states have programs that have some version of “alternative compensation,” and the pressure is growing from quarters including the Gates, Broad, and Milken Foundations to extend this. At the last State Council, OEA worked with other locals to postpone the adoption of language that at best flirts with merit pay in the Education Change Work Group report, and our draft revision is in your packet along with the original language. I have signed on to this language as your President and as an individual with the understanding that final approval must come from the Rep Council. Please discuss this at your sites so we can have an informed discussion at next Rep Council.
• CTA President David Sanchez reported that in his meeting with the Governor last week, he was informed of a projected $10 billion deficit in California’s revenues, possibly necessitating mid-year cuts. I asked if CTA was planning to bring back the push for a split roll tax, and was told that because education isn’t at the top of the public’s priorities (it’s preceded by health care and immigration, according to polls), they don’t intend to take it up at this time. But I think this is clearly an area where CTA needs to take leadership and keep demanding that the wealth of this state be redistributed in a way that supports rather than punishes our most vulnerable population, our children. This is something that needs to be raised again at State Council.

Elections

Because we weren’t able to get declaration of candidacy forms to all sites in a timely manner due to the holiday break, I am proposing that we postpone elections until January Rep Council. At that time we will have an additional vacant seat to fill Norma Jean Washington Palmer’s seat. I encourage active Reps interested in being more involved in OEA to consider being nominated for one of these seats. One is dedicated to counselors, psychologists, speech therapists, nurses, librarians; the other is open to any member in good standing.

HBIC

We have had the beginnings of a healthy debate around how best to bargain health care, and I would like to applaud all of you who are entering into the discussion with the goal of coming to agreement on the best way to move forward. I trust everyone realizes that ALL of us have in the forefront the desire to win the best possible benefits for our membership; where we differ is on how to achieve that goal.

Meanwhile, we continue to work to defend your rights against demands for excessive assessments, unfair and punitive evaluations, pacing guides that don’t match the curriculum, payroll and benefits issues, etc. We are inspired by those of you who have stood up in the face of outrageous demands and refused to administer assessments to Kindergartners on material they have never seen, and by those of you who are documenting and speaking out against unfair treatment by administrators. Keep documenting, keep speaking out, and keep remembering that when it comes to our students — first, we must do no harm!

I hope you all had a chance to relax, and enjoy the company of family and friends over the Thanksgiving break. Only three more weeks until you have another opportunity for some well-deserved rest and recuperation!

In unity,

Betty Olson-Jones

OEA President