Last week, I expressed very strong doubt about this claim from the California Teachers Association, reported by Louis Freedberg of EdSource in a story about the disaffiliation of the 19,000-member California Faculty Association, which represents employees of the California State University system: “The CTA anticipates that some 22,000 new members it says it has recruited...

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. Last week, we reported the news that the California Faculty Association, representing 19,000 employees of the California State University system, suddenly decided to drop its affiliation with both the California Teachers Association and the National Education Association. Everyone involved is being very close-mouthed about the...

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. The California Faculty Association, which represents some 19,000 employees of the California State University system, abruptly ended its affiliation with both the California Teachers Association and National Education Association, a relationship that began in 1981. It was by far the largest secession of a union...

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. Alex Caputo-Pearl is approaching the end of his tenure as president of United Teachers Los Angeles. He fulfilled his dream of leading the largest teacher strike the state had seen in 30 years, but he didn’t quite “create a state crisis” that would lead to...

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. The California Teachers Association surprised just about everyone in the state’s education arena — including me — last week by abruptly dismissing executive director and longtime political powerhouse Joe Nuñez. “The California Teachers Association recognizes the accomplishments and legacy of veteran educator and union advocate...

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2018 that public employees were no longer required to financially support a union, it seemed pretty straightforward. If you weren’t a member, you no longer had to pay agency fees, and if you were a member, you had the...

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. The National Education Association held its annual Representative Assembly in Houston last week. Six thousand delegates, representing teachers and education support workers in every state, met to debate and vote on the national union’s budget and agenda for the 2019-20 school year. The delegation from the California...

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. In June 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public-sector unions could no longer charge representation fees to nonmembers. The decision in Janus v. AFSCME was expected to have an immediate explosive effect. Unions had argued before the court that the loss of fees would be devastating,...

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. You can’t get very far in the public education policy debate without coming across the pension issue. School districts are seeing a greater portion of their budgets going toward covering their obligations to retired employees. The fiscal pinch makes negotiating with current employees even more...

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. Voters in the Los Angeles Unified School District last week rejected a parcel tax designed to raise $500 million annually for district operations. Needing a two-thirds majority to pass, Measure EE failed to receive 46 percent of the vote. The measure had the support of...