Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for February 6, 2007 CENTURY SWITCHES AFFILIATION

This is a follow-up to an earlier story...which has apparently become official.

Blazing a new trail or cutting their throats? Definitely cheaper, but then there's the old saying that "You get what you pay for." Time will tell.

From the Southern Illinoisan...

Century School District severs union ties

BY ASHLEY WIEHLE, THE SOUTHERN

ULLIN - An area school district has become the first in the area to sever its ties with two of the most prominent teacher unions serving Illinois.

The Century Education Association, representing teachers at Century School District in Ullin, voted early this month to decertify itself from both the Illinois Education Association and the National Education Association and opt for "local-only" representation.

The group has decided to represent itself in negotiations, and rely on the Association of American Educators for legal representation should a liability issue arise.

When a decision to move forward was made by the association, teachers began receiving frequent communications from the two unions advising against the switch, said Debra Goins, president of the Century Education Association and a teacher at Century Elementary School.

"We've got a lot of phone calls and things in the mail from them that were somewhat misleading and frightening to teachers thinking maybe we couldn't do this because we would lose benefits," Goins said. "We found that not to be true."

Goins said teachers ultimately opted out of the membership because they felt the two organizations did not fit their best interests.

"We felt like we could negotiate with our own school board without them," Goins said. "They don't really help us with negotiations, anyway. I'm sure they would have, but we didn't really need them to. For what we were getting, we decided we would be our own local association."

The Century Education Association teachers each will realize an annual savings of nearly $450, Goins said. Membership is $30 for the local association, and $100 for the Association of American Educators compared with $572 for dual membership in the Illinois and National Education associations.

Charles McBarron, director of media relations for the Illinois Education Association, said the organization did not pressure or mislead the association during its decision-making process but rather offered the benefit of its expertise.

"Until a local disaffiliates, they are affiliated and we are responsible for serving them and doing the best possible job we can with serving them," McBarron said. "Regardless of whether it decides its interest is to disaffiliate, we are obligated to give them our best advice and that includes making sure everyone understands what the benefits of being associated with the Illinois Education Association are. Those benefits are certainly without peers."

Disassociation with the Illinois Education Association is uncommon, McBarron said, but not unprecedented. There are local districts that have disaffiliated and re-affiliated a number of times, he said, adding that Century School District's association disaffiliated in the late 1980s and then rejoined.

"There are sometimes internal situations in locals that bring them to these decisions, and ultimately, it is their decision what organizations they choose to or not belong to," McBarron said.

Heather Roam, director of communications for the Association of American Educators, a non-union professional association, said Century is the first district her organization has represented in Illinois.

"They are definitely trailblazers," Roam said. "They are pioneers to do what they've done. They have been very brave. They have had harassment and threats from the IEA. I think it made their resolve stronger."