Education Austin Calendar

Click HERE for the Google Doc calendar for Education Austin. Click on each event for more information.

National Resolution on High Stakes Testing

Our local along with hundreds of other organizations had endorsed a well-written resolution asking for a hard look at our federal testing requirements for students. Please follow the link, read the resolution and sign it.  http://timeoutfromtesting.org/nationalresolution/

Education Austin Remains Consultation Rep as School Board Votes to Keep Elected Consultation

After five months of careful negotiations with the AISD administration, Education Austin achieved its goal of continuing as elected consultation representative for all certified and classified employees on April 23.  The AISD Board of Trustees voted 6-1 with one abstention and one trustee absent to adopt a revised consultation policy which, while providing for other employee organizations to give advisory input, leaves the elected consultation agent--Education Austin--as the only organization at the table during actual consultation sessions.

The power of unions to speak out on behalf of their members and their right  to collectively bargain has come under attack in Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, and other states.  While the state of Texas does not allow state or school district employees the right to collective bargaining, AISD board policy provides for an elected agent to meet monthly with the district through “consultation” to work on wages, benefits, and policy changes to improve working conditions for all AISD employees.  Education Austin considered the attempt to change this successful 14-year-old policy as a method to limit the voice and influence of labor in the district.  However, we stood firm in our conviction that a democratic policy that allows all employees to elect their consultation agent—or to vote them out—was the best way to be a clear, representative voice for the employees of AISD.  It seems from the 6-1-1 vote on Monday, April 23, that the AISD Board of Trustees agreed as well.

The revised policy stipulates that the other employee organizations and any individual employee who so chooses will meet with Education Austin on a monthly basis prior to each  consultation session to give EA input.    Education Austin remains the sole organization to formally negotiate with the  AISD administration’s team once a month regarding wages, working conditions, and other issues as long as employees re-elect EA as their consultation representative.

EA appreciates our members’ patience and support while we were working out the details of the revised policy with the administration.  We pledge to negotiate and to represent employees more effectively than ever as we work to take back public education.

AISD Approves Employee Policy (Finally)

Source: The Austin Chronicle
Date of Publication: April 24, 2012

After months of delays, changes and unnecessary ugliness, the AISD Board of Trustees has finally revised its policy dealing with employee relations.

The new policy retains the system of having a single elected employee group as the consultation agent, the main point of contact for the district in discussions about staff pay and conditions.  Read more

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