George Bordenave, American Federal of Teachers National Representative, to George Parker, WTU President
July 25, 2008

George Parker, President
Washington Teachers Union, Local 6
490 L’Enfant Plaza, SW, Suite 7200
Washington, DC 20024

Dear George:

This letter is a confirmation of discussions that you have had with me and your telephone conversation with AFT President Randi Weingarten on July 21, 2008, concerning the status of collective bargaining with DCPS and the procedure by which the contract will be presented to WTU members for ratification.

When the staff assistance agreement between AFT and WTU was crafted earlier this year, it was agreed that the AFT staff member assigned would work together with the WTU President on collective bargaining negotiations. Subsequently, you asked, and the AFT agreed that the AFT would not be involved in the current WTU collective bargaining negotiations with DCPS. That means, as you well know, in your role as WTU President and chief negotiator, you are responsible for the substance of any tentative collective bargaining agreement that may be presented to the WTU membership for a vote. AFT has a parallel responsibility to ensure that the WTU membership fully understands the content of any proposed agreement and to help guarantee that the ratification process is fair and democratic.

It is now apparent from the document and presentations prepared for your membership meetings that the proposal under discussion is fundamentally different than the current collective bargaining agreement in that it eliminates certain due process safeguards, and alters other terms of employment significantly including compensation, evaluation and placement. It further appears from the statements and actions of the Chancellor that these are more than “informational membership meetings” and that there is already some sort of agreement in principle with the Chancellor on these critical terms. Additionally, providing the members information of this scope and breadth with virtually no time for review before the meeting is not going to lead to meaningful input and questions from the membership. Major contractual changes of this nature would require any local to take the steps necessary to provide its members both adequate information and the time to understand, evaluate and discuss internally the proposed contract, before a ratification vote or the meetings that took place over the law two days.

I know you understood that, and that you repeated in your phone call to President Weingarten your earlier commitment that the contract ratification process will be democratic and will involve the full participation of the WTU membership. It is AFT’s understanding and expectation based on your representations and the May 21, 2008 WTU Executive Board Resolution and repeated in the July 21 conversation that any ratification vote will take place after the commencement of the 2008-2009 school year; that the proposed contract will be presented for a vote, first to the WTU Executive Board and then to the Delegate Assembly, before presentation to the WTU membership; and that all WTU members in “good standing” will be entitled to vote on the proposed contract.

Both Randi and I look forward to working with you to ensure that process by which WTU members vote on the proposed collective bargaining agreement is democratic, meaningful and based on full and fair information.

Sincerely,

George E. Bordenave
AFT National Representative, Assistant to the President of WTU