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Unity talks are continuing at the state and national levels following this summer’s vote delaying merger of the NEA and American Federation of Teachers.
NEA President Bob Chase (above) peeks around Vice President Al Gore as Gore addresses the NEA Representative Assembly. Gore said private school voucher programs like the one in Milwaukee are fraudulent and dangerous and harm public schools. |
Although delegates to the NEA Representative Assembly voted down merger this year, they also approved a motion setting the course for continued cooperation and collaboration with the AFT and proclaiming their commitment to pursuing unity. At the state level, WEAC President Terry Craney said WEAC and the Wisconsin Federation of Teachers will continue to work together on issues that benefit public education and children.
“We are disappointed that delegates at the NEA Representative Assembly did not choose to make the American Federation of Teachers part of our education family at this time,” Craney said. “Unity would have created one voice for children and schools at a time when public education is coming under increasing attack.”
Craney said WEAC and the WFT will continue collaborative activities that have been under way for several years.
“WEAC and the WFT have been working closely on many activities since 1990,” Craney said. “It took several years for us to become comfortable with our relationship, and it will probably take that long for other states to achieve that same success.
“Delegates from many other states were not comfortable with unification now,” he said. “The challenge is to demonstrate the necessity and benefits of speaking and acting in concert on behalf of public education and our children.”
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Pat Gille, a retired WEAC member from Green Bay, donned a striped top hat as part of a huge Fourth of July celebration of the “Read Across America” program. The NEA-sponsored event will be held again on March 2, 1999, which is the birthday of Dr. Seuss. — Photos by Randy Sus |
At the NEA RA in New Orleans, delegates voted down an immediate merger but voted overwhelmingly to move ahead toward uniting the two organizations. Two weeks later, delegates to the AFT Convention also voted to continue unity talks with the NEA.
“Delegates have charted a clear direction,” said NEA President Bob Chase. “The dream of uniting America’s educators in a single organization is very much alive. NEA delegates left the Representative Assembly with a single voice, and that is a strong voice for unity. The NEA family is fully committed to reaching that shared goal.”
The New Business Item adopted by the delegates directs the association to continue the NEA/AFT Joint Council’s efforts to enhance teacher quality, improve school safety and discipline, and modernize America’s school buildings. The measure also establishes a procedure to set guidelines under which state affiliates could unite.
Several states are at various stages in developing unification agreements. As part of the action, delegates voted to encourage the NEA and AFT to continue their “no-raid” agreement, which discourages representational battles between local affiliates of both organizations.
The NEA is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing more than 2.4 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support personnel, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.
WEAC — with 86,500 members — is the Wisconsin state affiliate of the NEA. About 650 local associations are affiliated with WEAC and Wisconsin UniServs.
Waukesha teacher Cristina Diaz-Arntzen has been elected secretary of the NEA’s Hispanic Caucus. The vote took place at the NEA Convention in New Orleans. She is a 3rd-grade teacher at Rose Glen Elementary School.
Posted August 31, 1998
