To the editors:
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Now the school reform says that the union may waive parts of the contract to implement local school reform. I have two suggestions to change the law on this point. One is that the vote to make local school changes remove any possibility of a veto by the higher union bureaucracy. Further, the state’s collective bargaining law be amended to allow individual schools to strike over local work rules and working conditions. In other industries local production centers often have the power to strike over local work rules even after the completion of a master contract.
However, to make local collective bargaining viable the law has to be amended to protect “whistle blowers” in the union who might criticize a local council. The local council might argue that the “whistle blower” was “disruptive of school reform.” Look at the harassment of the Clemente librarian who anonymously reported to the Reader about rather generalized problems. The fact that she was helped more by the ACLU than the CTU is not a good sign.
30 years a CTU member
