Originally posted 06/05/07
“…to achieve TALB’s goal #1 of having a better contract (pay, benefits, and working conditions) and the defeat of 1 or 2 incumbents at the April/June 2008 school board election(s).”
Teacher’s Association of Long Beach Representative Council Meeting Minutes/Report October 24, 2006, page 6 posted here
“A substitute motion was made for all members to vote on the special assessment ($6 per month per member for PAC) by secret ballot… There was discussion in favor of the substitute motion. We should let the membership vote. Reps expressed discomfort in making such a large financial decision for the members without first getting their input. Substitute motion failed (27-57).”
Teacher’s Association of Long Beach Representative Council Meeting Minutes/Report October 24, 2006, page 6 posted here
“We need people on our side at the LBUSD School Board. This is our time to get a majority. We need the resources so that we won’t have to bargain for a new contract in the minority position.”
Teacher’s Association of Long Beach Representative Council Meeting Minutes/Report November 28, 2006, page 5-6 posted here
“(2) Your PAC committee will run a highly professional campaign on behalf of one or two TALB-supported candidates as we did in the April & June 2006 elections…”
Teacher’s Association of Long Beach Representative Council Meeting Minutes/Report October 24, 2006, page 15 posted here.
Okay, that last one makes me laugh, “highly professional” includes importing teachers and union members from out of the area to door knock and man telephone banks—some of whom I spoke to personally during the campaign and asked where they were from, and moving one candidate, Michael Ellis, around to several different residences until he could qualify for the ballot.
The TALB website offers plenty of evidence for those willing to spend some time reading through the minutes of their meetings and other information posted showing a systematic power grab by the union’s staff and board of directors to control the Long Beach Unified School Board. As I posted last week (and had several teachers in the district contact me in agreement) TALB is running some diversionary actions to take their membership’s focus off their dismal school board puppet Michael Ellis and perhaps their failing budget as well (as of April 30th the net income of TALB was almost $80,000 behind budget—a budget that is projected to lose almost $7,000 for the year, portending perhaps a shortfall approaching $100,000 by the end of the fiscal year as seen here — page 30 is final page of Profit and Loss Budget Performance for TALB through April 30, 2007. If I were paying dues I would be concerned.).
As reflected above, “goal #1” of TALB is to have one or two more puppets elected to the school board next spring. Should Ellis remain on the school board that would give TALB either a 3-2 or 4-1 majority—clearing the way for them to give themselves huge increases in wages and benefits in the next contract negotiations, and achieve their unstated but obvious goal of getting rid of Superintendent Chris Steinhauser and the rest of the senior staff at the District. With the TALB Representative Council passing a $6 per month assessment on their membership for their PAC (by the way it is not an “opt-in” assessment, all members are automatically assessed and have to contact the union to opt-out, and if they try members are intimidated or harassed for opting out one teacher told me) and approximately 4600 members that will put well over $200,000 into TALB’s PAC by January 2008. They are going to spend over $200,000 to get a rubber stamp school board for their union, their contracts and their Superintendent. Can you say “Los Angeles Unified”?
What I found most amazing about the $6 assessment was that when it was brought to the Representative Council meeting, evidently a request was made to know the financial position of the PAC and how money was being spent, even more importantly several Area Reps wanted their members to vote on the assessment themselves. Not surprising no financial information from the PAC has been put in the Representative Council minutes, as well the majority of the Representatives felt that it was not the teachers rights or responsibilities to vote on whether or not they should be assessed. So if you are a teacher, the message from their union is: we want more money from you, we do not want you voting whether or not we will take more money we will just take it, and we will not show you an accounting of how we spent the money in the past or how much we have left.
Reading between the lines of the minutes it appears that there is a schism developing between the board of directors and the area representatives. The Representative Council has called for the Board to request and interview candidates and then present to the Representative Council an individual to be the Contract Enforcement Officer for TALB. My understanding is that this individual assists teachers in ensuring their contracts are being properly paid, they are receiving the proper benefits and essentially helping members understand their contracts and if they are being followed by the District. The board of directors dragged its feet on this and at one point, according to the minutes, indicated that with “membership down 15% and staff up 100%” that the union could save about $132,000 per year by not having this position filled. The Representative Council pulled rank, reminding the directors they serve at the direction of the Reps and the members now have a Contract Enforcement Officer. Incredibly the board and staff of TALB was looking to deny membership of a vital staff position to assist them, but thought nothing of skewering these same members for $6 per month to support someone like Michael Ellis. Great leadership and prioritizing; power for TALB takes priority over member benefits for teachers
This little episode shows that Executive Director Scott McVarish, President Tony Diaz and the rest of the TALB leadership is more concerned with buying elections to get their puppets elected than actually working to promote their members and ensure their salaries and benefits. They would rather stage Quixotic demonstrations against successful administrators then question the behavior and morals of a school board member. They would rather spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and assist a habitual law breaker get onto the school board than disclose to their members their financial condition and that of their power base in their PAC.
Thus far, for their monthly dues and PAC assessments the teachers of Long Beach have to show for it a militant Executive Director with a history of ruining one school district bent on a total power grab for himself and TALB, the poorest relations between their union and parents and administrators since before Carl Cohn was Superintendent, a TALB-controlled member of the school board (elected in a “highly professional campaign) who is an embarrassment to the city-and them-and apparently a union that is on course to lose a significant amount of money in operations. But thankfully their PAC will be flush.
After my “Wag The Dog” post on May 17th I have received numerous emails from teachers agreeing with me and expressing displeasure with their TALB leaders, and many state “and most of the teachers at my site feel the same way.” I ask, “why don’t you do something to get control of your union back?” But the question is unanswered. I hope they find their voices and question their leadership, demand accountability and ask “why did you feel it okay to not let me vote on a $6 special assessment if all it is going to do is get us someone else like Michael Ellis?”
It is your union, use your voice and your vote to have it represent you—all of you including your integrity, your vision for you and your students and your community.