Before voting on collective bargaining, members of the Albemarle School Board heard from a representative of the local education association – Tim Klobuchar – who urged them to give employees a voice in their benefits and working conditions.
“It’s not a coincidence that the strongest performing states in K-12 education also happen to have strong collective bargaining practices in their schools.”
And school board attorney Josiah Black assured them there were still many ways that staff could reject a union negotiating on their behalf.
“They can choose whether to sign an authorization card. They can choose whether to vote in favor of a union, and even if a union is certified, they still have the choice of deciding whether or not they want to join a union, which has pluses and minuses. It involves paying dues if they join. It means they get the opportunity to be represented during a grievance hearing and those types of things.”
But in what the chair called a historic moment, board members voted unanimously to move forward. Members of the audience and the board stood and applauded.
A number of school boards had already approved collective bargaining since that became legal last year – among them, Richmond, Charlottesville, Alexandria and 13 counties.
