WILLIAMSBURG-JAMES CITY COUNTY — The Williamsburg-James City County School Board voted not to support a Collective Bargaining proposal by the Williamsburg/James City Education Association at its Sept. 17 meeting.
Collective bargaining is described as the process in which employees, through their unions, negotiate contracts with their employers to determine their terms of employment, including pay, benefits, hours, leave, job health and safety policies, ways to balance work and family, and more. The result of collective bargaining is called a collective bargaining agreement, and it establishes rules of employment for a set number of years.
In a collective bargaining process, both parties are legally bound to bargain in good faith. This means they have a mutual obligation to participate actively in the deliberations and indicate a desire to find a basis for agreement.
During public comment Tuesday evening, members of the community were split on the topic and voiced a variety of opinions to school board members prior to the vote.
“We provided studies and have beaten this issue to death. We’ve shown that teachers unions do not help students nor aspiring teachers,” said Steven Mains, a resident of James City County.
“I’m against collective bargaining, I have not seen any definitive studies that shows where it has really benefited the students. That’s what I keep hearing that it’s going to benefit the students. But no one has been able to show me where that has happened. So I think there are creative ways in which [teacher’s] voices can be heard and their working environment can be improved to whatever it is they think that does not work for them,” added Susan Franz, a resident of James City County.
There was concern voiced, however, that there is too much misinformation in circulation.
“In my class, one thing I always push my students to do is, one, make sure that your sources are valid and that you always speak facts. I’ve been hearing a lot of things about WJCEA that have been alternative facts,” cautioned Alynn Parham, a member of WJCEA. “Number one, we are not just a union, we are a union full of all education employees and education support employees. Number two, we are already unionized and we’ve been in WJCC for many, many, many decades. And it pains me to see so many people speaking falsely about us and being led by false sources.”
The motion to vote no to collective bargaining was made by Michael Hosang and seconded by Sarah Ortego. The motion carried with Daniel Cavazos, Andrea Donnor, Michael Hosang, Kimberley Hundley, and Sarah Ortego voting for while Amy Chen and Randy Riffle voted against it.
Officially, the board said “it does not authorize collective bargaining but remains committed to recruiting high-quality staff and retaining the division’s exemplary workforce by creating an environment where transparency and trust are the norm, where employees are valued and supported professionally, and where competitive compensation for all staff remains a School Board priority.”
To that end, the board said that moving forward, it wanted to work with employees to find a solution outside of collective bargaining.
“And I will say this, if we can’t do it this year, then I am very happy to hear every one of the teachers that came forward to say they are hopeful and they will continue to come to the table and they will continue to send affidavits, and if I don’t see the changes that I think are necessary then I will be voting differently next year,” Hundley explained.
“What I’m asking the WJCEA, I think a number of us have heard you. Keep talking to us and giving us the opportunity to make those changes and to make things better for teachers and faculty outside of collective bargaining, and I will also say that if we are not able to meet that, then definitely, let’s reopen the conversation,” added Donnor.
While disappointed with the resolution, union members indicated they were grateful the board wanted to continue to keep communication lines open.
“I am very disappointed in the language in the resolution which says no to collective bargaining,” said Andrew Cason, a teacher a Jamestown High School and member of WJCEA. “I do appreciate, however, [the boards] promise to continue to collaborate with us and we will take advantage of that. However, whatever action [the board] takes today does not stop the conversation on collective bargaining.”
“Too many teachers have seen the victories that collective bargaining has brought, whether it’s protected planning time or protected lunch period — simple things like that. And pretty soon more and more teachers across Virginia say, ‘well why can’t I have that’ and it’s going to come here. And [WJCEA] is going to keep serving [the board] affidavits until we get the schools our students deserve,” Cason continued.
The next WJCC school board meeting will be on Oct. 15 with a closed session starting at 6 p.m. The public meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. A work session will be held on Oct. 1, with a closed session starting at 4 p.m., followed by a regular meeting at 4:30 p.m. For more information, visit the official WJCC website.
