The educators of the Arlington Education Association are a passionate group of professionals who care about creating the best learning environments for students in the Arlington School Board. The AEA has been working tirelessly to try to come to an agreement with the Arlington County School Board since April.   

A Collective Bargaining Resolution was passed in May 2022, but there are issues with the agreement that prevent educators from moving forward towards negotiating fair contracts for all.  Every attempt to reason with members had been met with 'It's too late".  It isn't too late!

The Collective Bargaining Resolution put forth by the school committee has two very big issues:

1. Lack of a neutral Third Party/Director of Labor Relations (DLR).  The DLR cannot act in a neutral capacity if they are also representing the employer in all labor related issues. The resolution should clarify that the DLR will represent the employer and a neutral third party should be used to settle disputes and handle processes
2.  Decertification (§9C2)
   a. Decertification is a process by which employees get to vote to either replace the union as the exclusive bargaining agent or choose not to have a union. In simplest terms it is just another union election. Like certification elections, decertification elections are initiated by employees, not the employer.
   b. Decertification is not a process intended for employers to punish the union. Section 9C2 is a fundamental misapplication of the decertification process.
   c. As written, §9C2 gives the employer the unilateral ability to terminate any collectively bargained contract with any employee association and decertify any employee association 
   without due process or democratic employee input.
   d. §5B1 should read: “The Exclusive Representative should remain the Exclusive Representative of an employee bargaining until it is decertified by a majority vote of the employees it 
   represents.”

Please join us in asking the Arlington County School Board to prioritize that the district come to the bargaining table with a fair resolution. We need the district to bargain in good faith to complete a fair contract.

TEACHER WORKING CONDITIONS ARE STUDENT LEARNING CONDITIONS!