…to join a growing group.

This just happened in Durham County.

In the wake of Hurricane Helene, Asheville City Schools reached enough members in its local NCAE affiliate (ACAE) to have a majority.

If you are not sure what Meet & Confer (or/and Collaborate) means, this is an explanation from EdNC.org.

Many of you may say, “Well, North Carolina makes unions against the law!”

Not. NC outlaws collective bargaining by public sector employees.

It’s a special kind of cruel irony that the only state in the country with the lowest legal minimum wage, no collective bargaining rights, delayed Medicaid expansion, loosely regulated vouchers and charter school expansion, a school performance grading system that measures achievement over growth, and the lowest corporate flat tax in the nation cannot even pass a new budget for the state after two years.

AND at the same time be a Right to Work / At Will state.

The ban on public sector collective bargaining was established in the Jim Crow Era. It literally is the last holdover as far as those laws are concerned. And NC is one of SIX states that makes collective bargaining illegal.

“Meet & Confer” is a legal means to have a formal voice in district decision making. It can occur in WSFCS if enough WSFCS certified and classified workers join FCAE.

The petition that will be delivered on Tuesday, February 10th at the next WSFCS BOE meeting will have the signatures of over half of the paid employees in WSFCS.

OVER HALF.

Instead of having to prioritize a list of survey options made by Central Office to show “transparency”…

You can be part of a group that can say all of these are the top priority as well as address other issues.

Think our local supplement is not enough? You will have an avenue to make that happen.

Think coaches don’t get enough of a supplement for what they do or have enough resources for your students? You will have a way to bring that to the table with a lot of support.

Think that you can’t help craft a new discipline policy for the school system that best serves schools and all stake-holders? Meet & Confer would ensure that certified and classified voices are heard and taken seriously.

Think that you as a bus driver or custodian or cafeteria worker don’t have much say in your working conditions? You would…

…if we reached a majority in membership in FCAE.

“But it costs too much money for me as a teacher/educator/staff member to pay each month!” Well, before 2014 all teachers with continuing licenses had due-process rights and state financed professional development. If you came to the state after that, then you do not. FCAE membership gives you legal representation and valuable opportunities for professional development including National Board guidance for those who choose to pursue since it is the only way to get a “raise” in this state. Plus so much more.

Like the opportunity to be at the table instead of on the menu.

Dang, you could use Meet & Confer to get an increase in the local supplement that could more than pay for any FCAE dues.

Then just imagine if more and more districts gain majorities in membership and what that could do on a state level in a state that in the past fourteen years has spearheaded as many attacks against public schools and the people who work in them as any in the country.

• Teacher Pay Kept Well Below National Average
• Removal of Due-Process Rights 
• Graduate Degree Pay Bumps Removed 
• Retiree Health Benefits Removed For New Teachers
• Push for Merit Pay and Bonus Pay 
• Removal of Longevity Pay 
• Health Insurance and Benefits 
• Attacks on Teacher Advocacy Groups (NCAE) 
• Reorganization and a Weakening of the Department of Public Instruction 
• Less Money Spent per Pupil When Adjusted For Inflation
• Remove Caps on Class Sizes 
• School Grading System 
• Cutting Teacher Assistants 
• Read to Achieve 
• Educational Savings Accounts 
• Opportunity Grants Expansion
• Charter Schools 
• Innovative School Districts 
• Reduction of Teacher Candidates in Colleges 
• Elimination & Reinventing of Teaching Fellows Program 
• Frozen Salaries For Years 15-24
• Ignorance of LEANDRO Decision
• State Budgets Taking Years To Pass

Find out how you can join. Contact an FCAE rep today.