Wisconsin Education Association Council | |
 | |
| Founded | 1853 |
|---|---|
| Location |
|
Key people | Ron Martin, President |
| Affiliations | NEA |
| Website | www |
The Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) is an education Public-sector trade union representing the public policy, labor and professional interests of its members. [1] It is affiliated with the National Education Association. [2] Its headquarters are located in Madison, Wisconsin.
WEAC began as a statewide educational organization of teachers and administrators in 1853. After passage of a collective bargaining law for public employees, it evolved into a pro-active teachers union and in 1972 changed its name to the Wisconsin Education Association Council. Later, WEAC expanded its membership to education support staff, as well as UW, technical college and State of Wisconsin education and information professionals. [1]
WEAC represents its members in areas such as collective bargaining, legislation, professional development and support and public relations. WEAC states that it advocates on behalf of the 865,000 children in Wisconsin public schools. [1]
WEAC also created the WEA Trust in 1970 to "provide an independent alternative to commercial insurance companies" "offer[ing] group health insurance to Wisconsin public schools. Currently, the Trust provides public school teachers, state health plan members, and local units of government with group insurance." [3] The WEA Trust is owned and financially tied to WEAC, often the two organizations have worked closely together in the past. [4]
In 2012, 45 Wisconsin School districts sued WEA Trust for withholding district funds after collective bargaining contracts with WEAC concluded, and to reclaim funds from the Early Retirement Reinsurance Program. WEA Trust counter-sued against 14 School Districts, announcing they would drop litigation if the School Districts dropped their litigation. [5] [6]
In 2011, Act 10 was signed into law by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. This law limited collective bargaining for public employees, excluding state patrol troopers, firefighters, and inspectors, on all issues except for base pay. [7] [8] [9] This change to Wisconsin law had a profound effect on WEAC and all other public-sector unions in the state. One of those effects was the loss of 29% of pre-Act 10 membership, since public employees of public schools were no longer forced to belong to a public sector union. [10] Prior to Act 10, dues were collected by school districts involuntarily. After Act 10, WEAC was required to collect dues and resulted in WEAC reducing its staff by 40%. [11]
WEAC membership includes: [1]
WEAC attempts to interview candidates for political and judicial office, but at least one judicial candidate has refused an interview with the association, claiming, "it might give the impression of a hidden agenda." [14]
WEAC had made several suits in the recent years against Wisconsin virtual schools. [15] One such suit is when the association sued the Wisconsin Virtual Academy and Connections Academy, because WEAC felt that the two schools "were operating in violation of open enrollment, charter school and teacher licensing laws". [16] Wisconsin Virtual Academy was first established in September 2003 with full approval of the DPI. When WEAC sued WIVA, the DPI was a defendant, but it sided with WEAC in the lawsuit.
Background
The Wisconsin Legislative Branch wrote a bill to limit collective bargaining laws that were established in Wisconsin in 1959, [17] which was signed into law by the Governor. The bill was halted by the Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi. [18] The Wisconsin Supreme Court unanimously found Judge Sumi to be in violation of Constitutional Separation of Powers. [19] The Wisconsin Secretary of State Doug La Follette refused to publish the law immediately [20] after the Wisconsin Supreme Court decision, enabling WEAC, along with other unions which represented public employees, to file a Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and others in the administration [21] on the basis that:
Basis of Lawsuit
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and rights for workers. The interests of the employees are commonly presented by representatives of a trade union to which the employees belong. A collective agreement reached by these negotiations functions as a labour contract between an employer and one or more unions, and typically establishes terms regarding wage scales, working hours, training, health and safety, overtime, grievance mechanisms, and rights to participate in workplace or company affairs. Such agreements can also include 'productivity bargaining' in which workers agree to changes to working practices in return for higher pay or greater job security.
In the context of labor law in the United States, the term right-to-work laws refers to state laws that prohibit union security agreements between employers and labor unions which require employees who are not union members to contribute to the costs of union representation. Unlike the right to work definition as a human right in international law, U.S. right-to-work laws do not aim to provide a general guarantee of employment to people seeking work but rather guarantee an employee's right to refrain from being a member of a labor union.
The National Education Association (NEA) is the largest labor union in the United States. It represents public school teachers and other support personnel, faculty and staffers at colleges and universities, retired educators, and college students preparing to become teachers. The NEA has just under 3 million members and is headquartered in Washington, D.C. The NEA had a budget of more than $341 million for the 2012–2013 fiscal year. Becky Pringle is the NEA's current president.
Scott Kevin Walker is an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Wisconsin from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as Milwaukee County executive from 2002 to 2010.
Graduate student employee unionization, or academic student employee unionization, refers to labor unions that represent students who are employed by their college or university to teach classes, conduct research and perform clerical duties. As of 2014, there were at least 33 US graduate employee unions, 18 unrecognized unions in the United States, and 23 graduate employee unions in Canada. By 2019, it is estimated that there were 83,050 unionized student employees in certified bargaining units in the United States. As of 2023, there were at least 156 US graduate student employee unions and 23 graduate student employee unions in Canada.
New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) is a 600,000-member New York state teachers union, affiliated since 2006 with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the AFL–CIO, and the National Education Association (NEA). NYSUT is an umbrella group which provides services to local affiliates in New York state; lobbies on the local, state and federal level; conducts research; and organizes new members.
The California Teachers Association(CTA), initially established in 1863, is one of the largest and most powerful teachers' unions in the state with over 300,000 members and a high political profile in California politics. The teachers' union is based in Burlingame, and its current president is David B. Goldberg.
The Ohio Federation of Teachers (OFT) is a statewide federation of unions in Ohio, affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), AFL–CIO.
The Oregon Education Association (OEA) stands as the largest public education employees' union in the U.S. state of Oregon, advocating for the interests of 44,000 teachers and classified personnel. With local affiliates established in each of the state's 199 public school districts and 8 community colleges, the OEA serves as the state affiliate of the National Education Association.
United Teachers of New Orleans (UTNO) is a labor union representing teachers and other educational workers in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. It is an affiliate of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers (LFT), American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the AFL-CIO.
Wisconsin Virtual Academy (WIVA) is a virtual school administered as a charter school by the McFarland School District in McFarland, Wisconsin. The school is operated by the for-profit K12 Inc. corporation of Virginia.
Communications Workers of America v. Beck, 487 U.S. 735 (1988), is a decision by the United States Supreme Court which held that, in a union security agreement, unions are authorized by statute to collect from non-members only those fees and dues necessary to perform its duties as a collective bargaining representative. The rights identified by the Court in Communications Workers of America v. Beck have since come to be known as "Beck rights," and defining what Beck rights are and how a union must fulfill its duties regarding them is an active area of modern United States labor law.
A public-sector trade union is a trade union which primarily represents the interests of employees within public sector or governmental organizations.
The 2011 Wisconsin protests were a series of demonstrations in the state of Wisconsin in the United States beginning in February involving as many as 100,000 protesters opposing the 2011 Wisconsin Act 10, also called the "Wisconsin Budget Repair bill." The protests centered on the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, with satellite protests also occurring at other municipalities throughout the state. Demonstrations took place at various college campuses, including the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. After the collective bargaining bill was upheld by the Wisconsin Supreme Court on June 14, the number of protesters declined to about 1,000 within a couple days.
In February 2011, a series of public employee protests began in the United States against proposed legislation which would weaken the power of labor unions. By March, eighteen states had proposed legislation which would remove some collective bargaining powers from unions, along with another five states which proposed legislation which would negatively affect unions. The protests occurred when public employee unions mounted protests against legislation proposed by Republican governors such as Scott Walker (Wisconsin), Rick Scott (Florida), Mitch Daniels (Indiana), Sean Parnell (Alaska), Rick Snyder (Michigan), John Kasich (Ohio), Paul LePage (Maine) and Jan Brewer (Arizona) which, among other things, would strip public employees of some collective bargaining rights as well as require higher employee contributions to pension and health care plans. The governors stated they needed these changes in order to cut state spending and balance the states' budgets. The protests began in Wisconsin, then spread to Indiana and Ohio, with unions around the country rallying to show their opposition to the proposed legislation. Several other states considered similar legislation. Virginia, North Carolina, and Texas prohibit formal collective bargaining with public employees.
The 2011 Wisconsin Act 10, also known as the Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill, is legislation proposed by Republican Governor Scott Walker and passed by the Wisconsin Legislature to address a projected $3.6 billion budget deficit. The legislation primarily affects the following areas: collective bargaining, compensation, retirement, health insurance, and sick leave of public sector employees. In response, unions and other groups organized protests inside and around the state capitol. The bill was passed into law and became effective as of June 29, 2011. Public employees exempt from the changes to the collective bargaining law include firefighters and most law enforcement workers. The bill was ruled to be constitutional by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in July 2014, after three years of litigation.
Recall elections for nine Wisconsin state senators were held during the summer of 2011; one was held on July 19, and six on August 9, with two more held on August 16. Voters attempted to put 16 state senators up for recall, eight Democrats and eight Republicans, because of the budget bill proposed by Governor Scott Walker and circumstances surrounding it. Republicans targeted Democrats for leaving the state for three weeks to prevent the bill from receiving a vote, while Democrats targeted Republicans for voting to significantly limit public employee collective bargaining. Scholars could cite only three times in American history when more than one state legislator has been recalled at roughly the same time over the same issue.
The Putting Students First Act is an act passed by the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. The law allows the provincial government to set rules that local school boards must adhere to when negotiating with local unions and to impose a collective agreement on the board, employee bargaining agent, and the employees of the board represented by the employee bargaining agent if negotiations are not completed by December 31, 2012. This bill also limits the legality of teachers' unions and support staff going on strike. In April 2016, the law was found to be unconstitutional.
The Michigan ballot proposals in 2012 included a referendum on a law passed by the Michigan Legislature and five proposed amendments to the Michigan Constitution. All six proposals were defeated.
A public-sector trade union is a trade union which primarily represents the interests of employees within public sector or governmental organizations.